Incendies ending explained

What happens

Jeanne and Simon learn that their father and their brother are one man: Nihad, Nawal's lost son, who became her torturer Abou Tarek. They bring him her letters, then go to her grave to accept it.

The last image

The twins stand at Nawal's grave, where she is finally named and mourned, and begin to take in what she has left them.

What it says

The ending turns the search into mercy. Nawal's letters ask her children to break the cycle of anger, so the film closes on a choice rather than a verdict. Truth is painful, but it is what makes forgiveness possible.