“Incendies” Mystery of a personal history like a myth. Read the origins of young master artist Denis Villeneuve.

Mystery of personal history like Greek tragedy

``Incendies'' is based on the play ``Incendies'' written in 2003 by Lebanese playwright Wajdi Mouawad. After Villeneuve worked on his second feature, Vortex (2000), he was looking for themes and subjects that would inspire him to make films again. It was during this time that I came across the play ``The Burning Soul,'' written and directed by Muammad.

The background of the story is the Lebanese civil war that occurred from 1975 to 1990. The mother, Nawal, was born in a fictional country in the Middle East, and although the name "Lebanon" is never mentioned in the movie, it is a Maronite Christian, Christian group that views armed refugees from Palestine as a threat. The conflict between Muslims and Muslims being oppressed remains a reality. Nawal is forced to survive a world of blood and violence, and faces unimaginable challenges along the way.

"Incendies" ©2010 Incendies inc. (a micro_scope inc. company)-TS Productions sarl. All rights reserved.

The original play by Mouawad had a huge amount of content, with the characters talking continuously for about four hours. Villeneuve, who received a lot of cinematic images from the stage play, wrote the script himself to make it into a movie. The film is a thrilling mystery movie that goes back and forth between the present time, where Jeanne and Simon are approaching their roots and their family's roots, and the past time, when Nawal lived, revealing a surprising The Truth that has been hidden.

This work is often compared to Greek tragedy and the works of William Shakespeare, and that's no wonder.This story is based on the masterpiece of Greek tragedy "Oedipus Rex," which is said to be one of the origins of theater. . I won't reveal the mechanism so as not to spoil its charm as a mystery, but it is certain that Villeneuve and Mouawad were very conscious of ``Oedipus Rex''.

For example, the boy who appears in the first scene of the movie has three black dots on the heel of his right foot, which hold the key to the story until the end. Similarly, in ``Oedipus Rex,'' the ``swollen foot'' that the word ``Oedipus'' refers to greatly influences the story's development. If you review ``Oedipus Rex'' after watching ``The Incendies'', you will be able to clearly see how this story skillfully incorporates elements of Greek tragedy. Japanese translations of ``Oedipus Rex'' have been published by Iwanami Bunko, Kobunsha Classic New Translation Bunko, and Shincho Bunko (by the way, I recommend Kobunsha's translation by Shoichiro Kawai ).

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