Sirat | 2025 Cannes Film Festival Review

A Bridge Too Far: Laxe Enters the Zone

“The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” Aleksandr Kayadonvsky’s line from Tarkovsky’s existential sci-fi classic Stalker (1979) comes to mind when viewing Sirat, the fourth and arguably most accessible feature from French-Spanish director Óliver Laxe, who once again returns to the metaphorical glories of a spiritual odyssey as previously explored in 2016’s Mimosas. But his latest is a pulsating, techno drenched mixture of mythological soul searching and contemporary intentional drug use all catalyzed by the search of a missing young woman. Layered, almost kaleidoscopic metaphors evolve through religious and politically minded themes, and the end result feels like a Gaspar Noe adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness.

An aura of transcendence arrives in the wake of Sirat’s end credits, a traumatizing third act leading to a sense of the sublime, though it’s towards a destination unknown. As the opening title informs us, Sirat is an Arabic word, which refers to (in Islam) a bridge wherein souls must cross from our world (though it seems after judgement has already been passed) to Paradise. The bridge is ‘as thin as a strand of hair and sharp as the sharpest knife or sword.’

Sinners or non-believers fall into hellfire, natch. It’s a somewhat misleading title as the film begins, with Luis (Sergi Lopez) and his teenage son Esteban (Bruno Nunez Arjona) searching for their missing daughter and sister, Mar, who disappeared after attending a rave. Now, Luis painstakingly hands out pamphlets at raves in the desolate Moroccan desert. There he meets a group of folks who appear to live in a perpetual Burning Man-style caravan, setting up booming speakers in the desert as they follow an event schedule which leads them hither and fro. They take pity on Luis, allowing him to tag along to their next gig in Mauritania. However, they will each end up transformed irrevocably before their journey is completed.

Before long, it’s clear Luis’ odyssey has existential dimensions, moving as it does from some kind of kinship with Paul Schrader’s Hardcore (1979) into some Tarkovsky styled forbidden zone, with enough pavement montages to suggest a nod to Lynch’s Lost Highway (1997). Joining Lopez are a handful of non-professional actors portraying richly characterized personalities, led by Tonin (Tonin Janvier). His posse includes Bigui (Richard Bellamy), Stef (Stefania Gadda), Jade (Jade Oukid), and Josh (Joshua Liam Henderson), all kind hearted, embracing Luis and Esteban, bonding slowly on their way to the next rave. The sound design serves as its own character, and a pounding, addictive store from Kangding Ray (aka David Letellier) vies for being the most impressive tertiary element one is apt to cinematically experience.

‘Sirat’ also means, in a general sense, the ‘path’ or ‘the way.’ As such, when shocking tragedy strikes, then strikes again, we learn the punishing aspects of Laxe’s newly configured Zone. Much like the finale of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989), ‘the penitent man shall pass.’ As the credits roll, and one processes the fate of Luis and his empathetic beneficiaries, it begs the question, “But where were they going without ever knowing the way?”

Reviewed on May 15th at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival (78th edition) – Competition. 115 Mins.

★★★★½/☆☆☆☆☆