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Abou Tarek, formerly known as Nihad de Mai Harmanni, is the main antagonist of the Canadian 2010 movie called Incendies.
He is portrayed by Abdelghafour Elaaziz and Hussein Sami as his 5 years old version.
Biography[]
Abou Tarek, born as Nihad of May, is a man shaped and destroyed by war long before he becomes the feared torturer known throughout Kfar Ryat. His life begins in an orphanage after his mother, Nawal Marwan, is forced to give him up to protect him. Marked only by a small tattoo on his heel and a month for a surname, Nihad grows up without a family or a past, vulnerable to the chaos unfolding around him. As a young boy he is taken by Chamseddine’s militia and reshaped into a child soldier, trained to obey and conditioned to kill. Any trace of his earlier tenderness is gradually erased as the conflict deepens. When he is captured by opposing Christian forces, the cycle of manipulation continues. His new captors rebuild him again, this time as a weapon for their own purposes. In this transformation he receives a new name, Abou Tarek, a kunya meant to command authority and erase whatever identity he once had.
Under this new name he becomes a torturer, feared for his brutality and known for the cold distance with which he carries out his orders. Among his victims is Nawal, his biological mother, although neither of them knows the truth at the time. In an attempt to break her spirit, he assaults her and leaves her with the words that become his signature: “Sing now.” That single act binds their fates together in the most horrific way, as Nawal later gives birth to twins who are both the children and the siblings of Abou Tarek.
After the war, he is granted a new identity and a new life in Canada, living in anonymity and unaware of the truth buried beneath the layers of identities imposed on him. When Nawal eventually recognizes him by the tattoo on his heel, the shock shatters her, leading to the stroke that begins her decline. It is only after her death that the truth resurfaces, carried by the letters she leaves for her children. When the twins confront him, he learns in a single moment that he is both the source of their suffering and a victim of circumstances that twisted him beyond recognition.
Haunted by what he discovers, Abou Tarek is left with the weight of a past he never understood and the knowledge that his life has been an unbroken chain of violence, loss, and stolen identities.
Gallery[]
Scene where Nawal discovers her son was also her rapist
External links[]
Nawal Marwan - Movie Fandom
Abou Tarek - Movie Fandom
Incendies - Oscar Wiki