By Matthew Moorcroft

Strong Recommendation

• Directed by Oliver Laxe
• Starring Sergi Lopez, Bruno Nunez Arjona, Richard Bellamy, Stefania Gadda
• Not Rated

Just like the music that pumps through the sound systems at a rave, Sirat moves at it’s own pulsating, intricate rhythm. In fact, the first and final images of Sirat are like a loop, showcasing the beginning setup of the sound system itself followed by the desolate leftovers of what it’s dancegoers leave behind – whether that be the speakers or pieces of themselves, both literally and figuratively.

Hypnotic in it’s best moments, it’s actually very difficult to properly write about Sirat as it’s a movie that almost seems eager to defy standard narrative convention. This is both it’s biggest strength and biggest weakness, as Sirat is impossible to predict on a first viewing and leaves you breathless, nervously anticipating what will happening to our ensemble cast as they traverse further and further into whatever destination they hope to find, if that destination is even possible to reach.

Sirat is, at first, the story of a father and his son searching for a lost daughter. They have no idea where she is, other then the slight possibility that she could be at this rave. While she isn’t there, they decide to follow a group of ravers who are travelling from one party to the next, especially after a group of soldiers – as this is in Morroco, still reeling from the Western Sahara conflict – order the Europeans to leave as quickly as possible. It’s a journey that begins almost as a coming of age tale for both father and son as both learn that the rave goers, made up of those with disabilities or marginalized communities, have their own troubles and have much in common with the far more reserved father Luis and his son then they would expect.

And then the shoe drops.

Sirat‘s true intentions are left unspoiled, as the trip that characterizes the true meat of Sirat – which is a term in Islam referring to the bridge that connects paradise and hell – is one paved in blood, dirt, and ash. And as the pulsing music of Kangding Ray’s incredible music blasts into the speakers and lulls you into the hypnotic, sensorial trance, that path through hell becomes impossible to look away from. There is a strange sense of post-apocalypism within Sirat despite the fact that it’s not set during one as the vast deserts of it’s landscapes become longer, more harsh, and far more unpredictably dangerous. And yet, it compels you to move forward, move to the beat of your own drum and hope for the best.

With incredible camerawork courtesy of Mauro Herce and Oliver Laxe’s constantly thrilling direction, Sirat‘s construction is so airtight and memorable in spite of it’s grimness that it’s hard to not immediately walk out shaken and breathless in the moment. The entire cast is uniformly game as well, made up of mostly non-actors outside of Luis, who is played to perfection by Sergi Lopez in a role that is exceptionally demanding both physically and emotionally. With so much of this clearly shot in the actual desert and with the elements fighting against them, the exhaustion of the cast feels real and palpable, likely cause they themselves were exhausted simply making the flick.

Where Sirat is a little bit more difficult to phrase is in it’s actual thematic meat and politics. Laxe has claimed the film is an overtly political work though has declined to reason out what he’s commenting on, leaving it up to the viewer to mostly take away whatever they want from the work itself. Ultimately, Sirat, at least on first viewing, feels less a statement and more like a whizz-bang hodgepodge of what Laxe believes is the world at the moment, which is that of a hot, burning wasteland with regular people stuck in the middle of literal landmines. The decision to mostly frame the story, in retrospect, as one about travellers who simply just do not understand the gravity of their situation is one that feels at odds with the marginalized nature of the core cast. Is Laxe using disabled characters as a way to garner cheap sympathy cause he knows that if he stuck to them being all more regular it would make them more difficult to root for? Or is this him trying to actively comment on how they are the most vulnerable during wartime? The film itself clearly doesn’t have an answer nor do I think does Laxe, who is clearly just more interested in slowly descending his cast into hell Sorcerer style.

I think this is why Sirat is ultimately better viewed instead of a sensory exercise, something you vibe to and experience rather then really try to digest afterwards. Those vibes are horrendous, yes, and the time experienced is miserable, but it’s certainly memorable and hard to let go of after viewing it. Even days after my initial watch of Sirat, I find myself thinking about it on a regular basis, and when the score is blasting in my ear again I close my eyes and sway to the tune of possible death or enlightenment.

Sirat certainly will not be for everyone. I suspect that most viewers will find it far too grim or bleak to fully appreciate, and those that do may be ultimately a little bewildered by it’s messaging by purposely vague. As for me, I found Sirat to be slightly flawed but ultimately compelling exercise in hypnotism. It’s one of the most unique experiences I’ve had watching a film this year even as I find not all of it particularly works or even has anything particularly interesting to say. But when the experience is something like this, it’s hard to complain.