Incendiary

People have always worried about a third world war breaking out. The devastation of the first two and the many deadly advances made in the technology of killing people resulted in many fearing WWIII would be a brief but devastating nuclear exchange. Considering the events of the last decade a strong case can be offered that we are already in a global conflict but instead of the methodology that defined warfare in the past the new way is terrorism. This means of killing has been all too well known throughout the world and we here in the United States joined this lamentable group less than a decade ago. Many films have taken on the subject usually from the vantage point of the terrorist or the government agencies dedicated to tracking them down. As with most forms of warfare what is frequently overlooked in the human toll such conflicts bring. With each major war a few films endeavor to depict the affects war has, not so much on a society at large but through the admittedly narrow vantage point of one of war’s victims. With terrorism the individuals most directed affected are not professional solders knowingly going into battle but regular, every day people unsuspectingly going about what should have been a routine day like any other. One movie that makes an honest albeit flawed attempt at relating the story of one young woman facing life after losing her family to a terrorist attack is ‘Incendiary’ by British writer/director Sharon Maguire. The film is set back by some pacing issues as well as a few difficulties inherent in the story but overall the film works on a sullen emotional level. It is especially important to keep in mind that the subject matter here is not conducive to even a modicum of comic relief. This movie endeavors to put an unlikely face to the victims of terrorism and succeeds to do so without becoming overly melodramatic.

Maguire is best known for her direction of ‘Bridget Jones's Diary’ which just happened to have come from the written by her long time friend, Helen Fielding. It took me a couple of viewings to really catch all the nuances of her screenplay which is far more layered a complex than might be originally evident. Much of this is able to come out through her straight forward directorial style which has just the right tinge of documentary to it. There are a few little camera tricks of the trade but not enough to be distracting. The story revolves around a young woman played with incredible sensitivity by Michelle Williams. The fact that her name is not mentioned adds to the impact of the first person account that drives the story. ‘Young Mother’ is married to Lenny (Sidney Johnston) who works as a bomb disposal technician for the London police department. Together they have a four year old son (Sidney Johnston), the emotional center of his mother’s universe. Although she is openly extremely affectionate to the boy she is far from being a candidate for mother of the year. One evening while her husband was at work overseeing the removal of an explosive device she hands the baby monitor to a neighbor and heads off to the local pub for a cigarette and a pint. While there a reporter Jasper Black (Ewan McGregor) approaches her with a lame pickup line and she is responsive to him. He lives not far from her cinderblock housing so they do meet each other again. Her husband and son are rabid fans of the Arsenal football team and frequently attend home games. During one such outing she remains behind ostensibly to prepare a celebratory snack. Instead she has a clandestine meeting with the reporter and they have sex in his apartment. The television had been left on and at the moment of climax the coverage of the game is interrupted by a massive explosion. She rushes to the stadium to discover her husband and son where two of over a thousand casualties. Part of the grief counselor’s advice is for her to write a letter to Osama Bin Laden which provides the framework for a first person running narrative. A couple of twists are infused into the story. First, her husband’s boss, Terrance (Matthew Macfadyen), tries to comfort the grieving widow only to find himself romantically drawn to her. Next the young mother befriends a boy teenage son (Usman Khokhar) who turns out to be the son of one of the bombers. As this is unfolding the report digs into the bombing discovering that there were multiple bombers and that the anti-terrorist division is not telling the public the entire story.

At first glance there are not a lot of likable characters here. To her credit Maguire constructs a story that still is intriguing although it is difficult to initially sympathize with anyone. The husband comes closest since the worse that can be attributed to him is being a soccer fanatic and somewhat emotionally distant from his wife, she, on the other hand, leaves her son alone while her husband is risking his life to support them to go out to the pub; all too amenable to being picked up by a strange man. Then there is the boss who hits on a newly widowed mother. Then on subsequent viewings another perspective began to reveal itself. The mother is a victim of undeserved misfortune. She may be adulterous but what she is put through is disproportionate to her moral offence. The fact that she was achieving orgasm at the instant her husband and son died only adds to her despair in an ironic twist of fate. Williams gives one of the best performances of her career to date. Her character is fighting the mind numbing combination of overwhelming guilt and grief. She is adrift in a world of despair latching on to the boy as some replacement for her son and small relief from the emotional torment. In some respects the plot line with the reporter’s investigation seems distracting but it is necessary in order to provide a framework for the story to move forward instead of wallowing in an emotional downward spiral. Give this one a chance if you are looking for something different.

Posted 04/03/2010