Incendies as Canadian Cinema

Sariah Thompson-Wood
Professor Brian Dunphy
FILM 3009-01
23 March 2015
Incendies: A Scorched Identity of Canadian Cinema
Canadian cinema has been in a state of long-term adolescence in comparison to many other national cinemas since the beginning of the industry, in a sense that it is lost in the ability to clearly establish its identity on a national cinematic scale. This continual struggle is represented in Denis Villeneuve's Incendies (2010) through religious comparisons, language barriers, change in generations, and identification of the orphan. Incendies is representative of Canadian cinema and its persistent struggle to create an established identity for itself amidst being hindered by self-destructing, yet newly defining cultural, societal and historical issues.
Canada's film industry is depicted through four different parts of the film that resembles Canada's lack of established cinematic identity on a national scale. Firstly, the issue of religious differences is present throughout the film and while much like Canadian cinema, Incendies is a film that contains religious qualities but is not defined by them. To add to the matter, the film also shows a barrier between the different languages, thus furthering the feeling of alienation. Furthermore, the different perspectives on the value of identity is shown through the old versus the new generation, represented by the twins and their mother. Finally, the depiction of the orphan in the film is what identifies Canadian cinema through ironic means, thus creating identity out of a lack of identity. One way in which Canadians and many others explore the idea of finding an identity for themselves is through identifying with a religion.
Many French Canadian films utilize the belief or disbelief of religion as a means of creating a tie with the large number of Catholic populations in Quebec and their historical struggle with the Anglo-centric Canadian government, and from this, Incendies represents them through the war between the Muslims and the Christians in the middle-East. Earlier in French-Canadian cinema, the Quiet Revolution between the two religions inspired a generation of directors to question their identity thus creating a "filmic revolution [that] mirrors a rise in self-awareness and creative emancipation as it sets in motion a loop of identification whereby people create images of who they are, which in turn informs later generations of where they came from" (Monk 155). This was Canadian cinema's early attempt to identify itself through the inspired events of religion. But like Incendies, just because the films were inspired by religion, and feature symbolic traits of religion, does not mean that the film is specifically about religion. Incendies represents the two worlds of religion through the bridge that borders the North and South of the country. While in search for her orphaned son, Nawal Marwan (Lubna Azabal) crosses over from the peaceful side to the war zone, and escaped from being murdered because of her cross necklace. The addition of religion is more an ironic comment about how it can do more evil than good in the world as Killeen states, "there's nothing holy about a holy war in which civilian buses are torched, babies are stolen from the arms of their mothers and the difference between life and death is a cross necklace" (5). The question of one's identity through religion is a common feature in Canadian films and represents Canada's inability to define itself, even through religious means. The film begs the same question through the representation of language in differing cultures.
The language barriers in the film represent the alienation different cultures feel toward each other, despite having the same backgrounds which is a reference to the way the French and English films are viewed as two separate entities in Canadian cinema thus splitting apart some of its progressing identity as a combined force. Incendies includes many instances of alienating its audience through the use of other languages in order for the viewers to be included in the feeling of desperation and isolation. In the beginning of the film Jeanne Marwan (Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin) is introduced as an assistant to a professor of "pure mathematics." Math can be a common language that can be the same no matter what official language one speaks, but Jeanne's professor gives a detailed description of what "pure mathematics" is and suddenly standard mathematics has evolved into an "overwhelming complexity of finding new problems upon every answer you solve," which is the way Jeanne and the audience feels every time she encounters someone who cannot speak her language. These issues in the film transition to the multicultural background of Canada's culture and its cinema and states that "language remains the main source of division between Canadians. Not just between English and French but between 'established Canadians' and 'new Canadians'" (Monk 157). These issues bring light to the lack of community that is present in Canadian films and Canadian cinema as a whole. This is especially prevalent in the division between English and French speaking parts of Canada and it is important to note that "our two film traditions explore similar thematic terrain – alienation, isolation, a sense of emptiness or being incomplete – […] there is little hope in uniting the nation without embracing difference over sameness" (Monk 161). Monk asserts an argument that frequents the film and relates to the struggles of Canadian cinema. The relation between the two is that language is something that can be powerful and binding if utilized in a way that works as a team, rather than recognizing language as a trait of negative differences in Canadian culture. This calls attention to the fact that as a cinema, Canadians are weakened in identity when split into two or more separate categories because of language, when in an ideal sense, Canada could assert its identity through the combination of language and the cultural influences it is enriched with. This relates to the cultural influences that are shown in the film throughout generations of one family.
The depiction of the old and new generations in Incendies is representative of the search and eventually the acceptance of one's identity in regards to Canadian cinema. Before Nawal Marwan's death, the audience is exposed to her journey to find her son, and after her death the search is continued on to her other children to find her son, Nihad (Abdelghafour Elaaziz) and their father, Abou Tarek (Abdelghafour Elaaziz). Near the end of the film the audience is told that the twins' brother is also their father out of an incident of rape. This makes Nihad/Abou a multitude of identities that interlink the family. In relation to Canadian cinema it is apparent that "discourses of national identity have traditionally been focused on the tension between an English-Canadian identity crisis and a more secure uncertainty about who 'we' are. While the situation is more complicated than it is often made to seem, it now involves a growing awareness of the nation's ethnic diversity and from the associated idea of Canada as a multicultural state" (Leach 182). This is much like the complicated relationship between Nihad, Nawal, and the twins in the sense that the chaotic description that depicts a lacking identity is in fact the identity of the family in the end. This is a comment on Canadian cinema's uncertain and frequently questioned identity and how the separate generations represent those and are tied together symbolically by Nihad.
Nihad, the orphan, represents Canada's lack of identity and place in the world of cinema, and ultimately, the newborn identity is made out of a lack of identity. Throughout the film, Nihad is known as an orphan which symbolically asserts him not knowing his place in the world. Monk states, "in the context of nationalism, the orphan is a potent image of dislocation and outsiderism, as it suggests the lack of a family structure and a larger identity. The orphan does not belong to a specific group or clan, which mirrors the core of the Canadian identity as a culture steeped in ambiguity and otherness" (156). Monk's analysis of Canada as the orphan is shown in Incendies in the beginning scene when Nihad is getting his head shaved by his capturers. Before then Nihad lacked identity and purpose, but having his head shaved in a new family represents his newfound identity asserted from a lack of identity in first place. When he decidedly becomes Abou Tarek, even though he committed something monstrous to his own mother, his mother expresses in both letters to both his identities her acceptance of him as her son and her children's father. In this modern depiction of Oedipus, Nihad's role of the orphan creates an identifying factor toward Canadian cinema's struggle to identify itself, thus creating and identity out of uncertainty.
Incendies is a depiction of the struggle Canadian cinema has experienced with being able to possess an identifier from a national standpoint. It calls upon aspects of religion, language, orphans and generational changes to express the conflict of Canadian films. Although Canada has had its setbacks in comparison to other national cinemas, it is still able to hold a certain charm and ambiance that come with the lack of identity around it. Canada's bi-lingual, cultural, and historical influences are things that add strength to the cinematic experience of its films, and is something that should be embraced by all aspects of Canadian filmmakers and critics in order to assert its identity. Incendies, although a disturbing film, argues an optimistic standpoint for the future of Canada and its value in terms of national cinema and identity.


Works Cited
Incendies. Dir. Villeneuve, Denis. Perf. Lubna Azabal, Mélissa Désormeaux-Poulin, and Maxim Gaudette. E1 Films Canada, 2010. Film.
Killeen, Graham. "'Incendies' crackles with intensity of Mideast strife." Journal Sentinal. Journal Sentinal, 2015. Web. 19 Mar. 2015.
Leach, Jim. Film in Canada. 2nd ed. Ontario: Oxford University Press, 2011. Print.
Monk, Katherine. Weird Sex & Snowshoes. Vancouver: Raincoast Books, 2001. Print.


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