A family’s quest to find a loved one morphs into a strange and spiritual odyssey that will leave you enraptured and rattled.
ADVERTISEMENT
In Islamic eschatology, Sirāt - the Arabic word for “path” - is a narrow bridge between Paradise and Hell, one which all souls must cross after judgement day. It is “as thin as a strand of hair and as sharp as the sharpest knife.”
That piece of information will be more useful for audiences coming into the world of Sirāt than any logline ever could be. Nothing can prepare you for what French-born Spanish director Óliver Laxe has in store for you with his bold and exhilarating new film, which won the Jury Prize at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
Still, here goes.
Luis (Sergi López) and his 12-year-old son Esteban (Bruno Nuñez Arjona) are looking for Mar, their missing daughter and sister. She vanished five months prior and they haven’t heard from her since.
They arrive, with their dog Pipa, at an off-grid rave in the remote mountains of Morocco, a location which feels like a cross between Mad Max: Fury Road’s Wasteland and that sweaty Zion party in The Matrix Reloaded. They proceed to search for Mar, passing around flyers with her image. When they stumble across a group of ravers - Jade (Jade Oukid), Bigui (Richard Bellamy), Stef (Stefania Gadda), Tonin (Josh January) and Josh (Joshua Liam Henderson) - the hedonistic bunch inform Luis and Esteban that another secret dance party is taking place soon in Mauritania. Mar could potentially be there.
The rave is suddenly cut short by the arrival of armed forces, who are there to forcibly deport the revelers back to their home countries. The newly formed group of misfits manage to flee from the guards and head off deeper into the arid North African landscape.
The first half of Sirāt is straightforward enough: a missing persons story unfolding into a road trip adventure. There are some subtle apocalyptic elements peppered into the story - mostly via the radio in one of the raver’s converted trucks, informing us that World War III has been triggered and that the world we as audiences have just entered could be the beginning of the end times.
But just when you’ve settled into the rhythm of the missing-girl mystery set against the backdrop of the coming apocalypse, Laxe pulls the already-far-from-comfortable blanket away. The impact is initially jarring but utterly devastating. What seemed to be a modern reworking of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth morphs into an existential road movie jolted into existence by tragedy and shocking twists.
Divulging any more would be sacrilegious and not much is safe to say without taking away from the viewing experience. But again, here goes...
The acting by both López and the non-professional actors portraying the anarcho-punk travelers is pitch-perfect.
Narratively, the screenplay by Laxe and Santiago Fillol deftly remains frugal when it comes to context and backstory, but pulls no punches when it comes to visceral pivots. It’s a cross between Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Le salaire de la peur (The Wages of Fear) and Samuel Beckett, with some "Heart of Darkness" thrown in there for hellish measure.
Sirāt also soars on a technical level. Laxe and cinematographer Mauro Herce make the desert scenes both beautiful and oppressive, and the pulsating electro score by Kangding Ray not only adds further layers to the ominous mood but also genuinely captures the bacchanal vibe of the contemporary dance festival scene. Moreover, the way the speakers and subwoofers are filmed creates a visual pit you’re drawn into, as if the oblivion can be witnessed through a Lynchian approach to lensing a totemic object. And if your Lynch radar is joyfully beeping right now, just wait until you see the ethereal, Lost Highway-echoing way the roads are filmed.
Both poetic and political, spiritual and nightmarish, Sirāt becomes the purgatorial portrait of those faced with the fragility of life, desperately trying to find release in a crumbling world in which we as a species are tiny players in a wider, crueler game.
Whether you’re completely on board with the trip to oblivion or the ambitious swings Sirāt takes, Laxe conjures such a dizzying and invigorating trance that you’re sure to take this film home with you. Its impact will reverberate in your mind and bones, and will lead you to answer two questions asked in the movie.
“Is this what the end of the world feels like?”
In all likelihood, yes.
"Is there still hope?"
Maybe. Whether we can course-correct and not topple over that thin and sharp bridge may still be up to us.
Sirāt premiered at this year's Cannes Film Festival. It is out in Spain, Portugal, France and Germany and continues its theatrical rollout this year. It heads to the BFI London Film Festival next month and will hit US theatres in January 2026.
