What May Be the Most Shocking Film of the Year, ‘Sirât,’ Arrives in Theaters

The new Morocco-set film “Sirāt” begins with text defining its Arabic title, a word describing a narrow, perilous pathway or bridge between heaven and hell. The trials of its characters certainly resemble a purgatory, as harsh desert conditions and the cruelty of fate and man put them through the physical and spiritual wringer. Some viewers might feel like they, too, are suffering an ordeal due to the droning dance music soundtrack and occasional ponderous imagery. Yet those seeking a singular moviegoing experience — one that shocks and distresses but also provokes thought — will find much to ruminate over in the film’s elliptical outline and dramatic audacity.Winner of the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, “Sirāt” is directed by Óliver Laxe, a Galician auteur. In press notes, the director discusses how the idea for the feature came to him nearly 15 years ago when he was living in the Sahara Desert, where it was partly shot, and how this “metaphysical landscape” engendered feelings of insignificance and humility. These impressions appear regularly throughout as the film tells the story of a Spanish father and young son, Luis and Esteban, looking for their semi-adultish daughter and sister, Mar, amongst the dance party scene in arid North Africa. Early scenes establish an almost religious aura as subwoofers are set up on a platform like an altar, complete with a cross design identified within one of the speakers. As disheveled, misfit-like revelers stomp and sway as if in a trance, the imposing cliff face opposite the outdoor dance floor evokes an eternal, remote authority, one that’s literalized and slyly subverted later in the night when a laser light show traces the precipice into a stairway to heaven.Through the thump of techno played day and night, Luis and Esteban pass out flyers with a photo of the missing Mar. The ravers are friendly, but most are too high, drunk, and/or exhausted to offer much help. When the festival is broken up by military authorities, who order the mostly “European” crowd to get in their vehicles and leave the area, the pair spot a group of attendees breaking away from the organized expulsion. These revelers had mentioned another event to take place farther south, and the father decides to follow them in the hopes Mar might be there.The group eventually agrees to guide the duo to this next event, despite misgivings and Luis’s van not being offroad-ready like their vehicles. What follows forms the central part of the film, as the father-and-son team and five itinerant partygoers travel deeper into the desert while radio reports speak of a war breaking out. Yet the prologue’s mix of revelry, mystery, and hints of religion and belief sets the tone for what’s to come.Mr. Laxe made masterful decisions when it came to casting, starting with seasoned Spanish actor Sergi López and newcomer Bruno Núñez as Luis and Esteban. With his grizzled countenance and stocky physique, the former effortlessly embodies the cautious but caring father type, while the latter possesses a quiet maturity belying his youth. Both serve as audience stand-ins as we’re introduced to the world of nomadic rave culture, represented by real-life members Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Henderson, Jade Oukid, Tonin Janvier, and Richard Bellamy, the last two of whom are amputees. All five come off both naturalistic and unusual, with their weathered faces and outré outfits, and one senses a deep need in them to live outside of conventional society, to escape through dance, mind-altering substances, journeying, and camaraderie. As Ms. Oukid’s character explains to Luis, she prefers her chosen family to her blood relations, leaving hanging the question of whether Mar wants to be found.Lighthearted scenes, touching moments between father and son, and kindnesses performed by the group never dispel the apprehension fomented by near mishaps, the score’s ominous throbs, the forbidding terrain, and the growing awareness that the war mentioned on the radio is expanding globally. Despite their need for gas and the occasional sight of military forces, the septet are isolated from what’s going on in the wider world, like a pre-apocalyptic, proto-”Mad Max” band of drifters. Nevertheless, the wide expanse of the landscape proves harsh and deadly, and war, too, eventually rears its destructive power through one of its most insidious instruments. The difficulty of discussing the movie without revealing the plot compels me to focus on its brutal, beautiful cinematography, exemplified by a widescreen aerial shot of a sunset flanked by a mountainside in shadow where two vehicles drive down its swerving road. That particular image’s light and dark mirrors Mr. Laxe’s contrast of humanity with catastrophe and the narrative’s stark existential quest. Sometimes, the director’s symbolism and references surface too blatantly, such as a T-shirt touting Tod Browning’s “Freaks” or when we’re shown, via a television, Muslim pilgrims flowing around the Kaaba during Hajj. Still, there’s no dismissing his film’s metaphorical heft and allegorical trajectory, nor the narrative’s forceful inevitability — the horrific, even absurd, miseries portrayed — and the haunting sadness of its characters. One of the best films of the year, “Sirât” is art cinema at its most unforgettable.

What May Be the Most Shocking Film of the Year, ‘Sirât,’ Arrives in Theaters

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