History Film / Incendies

* AdaptationalKarma: In the play, Abou Tarek was arrested for war crime [[spoiler:which is how Nawal finds out he is her son. In the movie he is a refugee in Canada, living near his mom/victim unaware]].

* DeathOfAChild: A small girl is shot in the back by terrorists and a boy is killed by a sniper who turns out to be [[spoiler:Nawal's son]].

* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: Jeanne is responsible, Simon is foolish.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation: Nawal understandably doesn't respond well to the AwfulTruth that [[spoiler:her son is her rapist]].

-->'''Simon:''' One plus one, does it make one?

** One awkward aspect of the narrative is that, while the audience is informed that war crimes are being committed by both Muslim and Christian militia, the film itself only shows atrocities perpetrated by the latter (including an honor killing, a bus massacre, the shooting of a young child, and prison rape).

** Downplayed, but Jeanne has less agency than in the play, and instead of being a teacher, she is an assistant to the real teacher (who helps her on her trip, while in the play, she goes alone).

* MamaBear: Nawal, especially to her first son. She walks across half of the country looking for him. [[OneSceneWonder The anonymous woman who attempts to give her son to Nawal to save him from being killed by the terrorists]] also seems to be one, which doubles as {{Foreshadowing}}.

** The Christian terrorists quickly figure out that the child Nawal carries from the bus is not her own, but a Muslim. They tear him from her arms and gun him down.

* AdaptationalKarma: In the play Abou Tarek was arrested for war crime [[spoiler:which is how Nawal finds out he is her son. In the movie he is a refugee in Canada, living near his mom/victim unaware]].

* ForbiddenLove: Nawal's Eastern Orthodox Christian family strongly disapproves of her lover, Wahab, a Palestinian Muslim refugee, and murder him. [[HonorRelatedAbuse They then attempt to honour kill Nawal herself]] before her grandmother intervenes. This relationship is pretty much the catalyst for the entire plot.

* KarmaHoudini: Unlike in the stage play, where Abou Tarek is being tried for war crimes, in the film he [[spoiler:is hiding out in Canada as an anonymous janitor]].

* ForbiddenLove: Nawal's Eastern Orthodox Christian family strongly disapproves of her lover, Wahab, a Palestinian Muslim refugee and murder him. They attempt to honour kill before her grandmother intervenes. This relationship is pretty much the catalyst for the entire plot.

* HeroicBSOD: Nawal suffers one after the little girl gets killed by the terrorists. She suffers a fatal one when [[spoiler:she runs into her long-lost son at the swimming pool in Montreal... [[AwfulTruth and finds out he is the same man who tortured, raped and impregnated her during her imprisonment at Kfar Ryat]]]].

* BreakTheCutie: Abou Tarek tries this on Nawal by raping her repeatedly in prison but she doesn't lose her will to go on.

** Notary Lebel is a MotorMouth with a more comedic role in the play, while he is more solemn in the movie
** The ColdSniper ChildSoldier in the movie is a far cry from the LaughablyEvil MadArtist in the play, mostly because of PragmaticAdaptation since [[spoiler: Nihad/Abou's silly antics in the play is a hint that he is Nawal's son, with a plot point being that Nawal didn't give him a tattoo but a clown's nose, which was AdaptedOut for being too ridiculous]].

** Downplayed but Jeanne has less agency than in the play and instead of being a teacher, she is an assistant to the real teacher (who helps her on her trip while in the play she goes alone)

* AwfulTruth: One plus one... Can it make one? Translation: [[spoiler: [[SurpriseIncest Can our father and our brother]]... [[ParentalIncest be the same person]]?]]

* HeroicBSOD: Nawal suffers one after the little girl gets killed by the terrorists. She suffers a fatal one when [[spoiler:she runs into her long-lost son at the swimming pool in Montreal... [[AwfulTruth and finds out he is the same man who tortured, raped and impregnated her during her imprisonment at Kfar Ryat.]]]]

** [[spoiler:Nawal just so happens to be tortured and impregnated by her long-lost son Nihad]].
** [[spoiler:Nawal and Nihad both happen to flee to the same area of Canada and cross paths in such a way that allows Nawal to see his bare heel]].

* OnceMoreWithClarity: Early on, we see Nawal in shock at a swimming pool but we don't know what's actually going on. At the end, the scene is repeated and here, we learn that she has just seen her [[spoiler: long-lost son/tormentor]].
* ParentsAsPeople: According to Simon, Nawal was a cold and distant mother throughout his and Jeanne's life, which he has always resented her for. Of course, she has a FreudianExcuse, what with the trauma and horror she has experienced in her home country having made her a harsher person in general. [[spoiler: She didn't even want the twins, being children by rape and better off with their adoptive parents, but warlord Chamseddine convinced her otherwise.]]

* SurpriseIncest: [[spoiler:Abou Tarek raped his long-lost mother without realizing it. Many years later, Nawal identifies her son by his heel and her rapist by his face, driving her into catatonia]].

* TwoLinesDifferentTimes: The story cuts back and forth between Nawal's plotline in the 1970s and Jeanne and Simon's investigation in the present.

* MeanwhileInTheFuture / TwoLinesNoWaiting: The story cuts back and forth between Nawal's plotline in the 1970s and Jeanne and Simon's investigation in the present.