Double Feature

I saw two movies at the film festival, The Trip and Incendies. The two films couldn't have been more different. The Trip is a buddy film, a simple story about a road trip that two old friends take to the north of England. The characters carry on a love affair with language: word-play taken to absurd extremes with wonderful build-up and impeccable timing. I laughed the whole way through. 

Incendies, on the other hand, is a family epic with a Shakespearian plot (complicated and improbable) and the dimensions of a Greek tragedy. It's the story of a woman who emigrates to Canada from a war-torn Middle Eastern country. After her death, her children embark on a quest to find their roots. Their quest takes them to an unnamed country that closely resembles Lebanon in its geography and political history. The movie is horrifying. It shows the grim reality of war and its long-term consequences. I usually shy away from war films, but this one was so powerful that I was gripped by it from beginning to end, even though it was two hours long. 

Only at the film festival could I have seen two films back to back that were so different in tone and subject matter. I'm glad I saw the comedy first!