Canadian-Iranian film screened at Lok Virsa

A 2010 mystery-drama, written and directed by Denis Villeneuve, had adapted Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name

ISLAMABAD: The National Institute of Folk and Traditional Heritage (Lok Virsa) Mandwa Film Club screened the Canadian-Iranian film “Incendies (2010)” at its media centre.

A 2010 mystery-drama which was written and directed by famed director Denis Villeneuve, had adapted Wajdi Mouawad's play of the same name. The story revolves around a pair of Canadian twins who travel to their mother's native country in the Middle East to uncover her hidden past, tied in with a bloody civil war.

Although the country is unnamed, the events in the film are heavily influenced by the Lebanese Civil War, in particular, the story of prisoner Souha Bechara.

The screenplay by Villeneuve refashions the action in a way more suited to a film, where it is often better to show something than to evoke its mental image. The underlying story here could with a few adjustments be a noir set in any country, taking its choice of all the sad justifications men find for murder.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2017.