SIRAT

Spain, 2025, 115 minutes, Colour.

Sergi Lopez, Bruno Nunez Arjona, Stefania Gadda, Joshua Liam Henderson, Richard Bigui Bellamy, Tony Janvier, Jade Oukid..

Directed by Oliver Laxe.

At the beginning of the film, this definition is presented for the audience to remember throughout this gruelling journey, for the cast and characters as well as for the audience.

Sirāt: a bridge which spans the chasm of hell and connects this world with paradise and over which, according to tradition, only the righteous can cross while the unrighteous fall to a flaming punishment.

This is a Spanish production, supported by the Almodovar brothers, winner of the jury Prize at Cannes, 2025, two Oscar nominations, foreign language film and, especially, for sound. It was filmed in Morocco.

This is a difficult film to sit through, to attend to, to appreciate. The audience itself, accompanying characters, is travelling over that Sirat bridge (stranded?), over the chasm of Hell, hoping for paradise, the danger of falling into the fires of hell.

The initial setting is the setting up of the equipment for a rave in the desert, against a background of beautifully coloured cliffs, then a motley collection of outsiders in the hippy tradition, outsiders, protesters, gesticulating, moving with the beat, a pounding, thrumping beat. Those who move themselves in ecstatic beat, no problem. Those who want to escape, where can they go?

Suddenly, a challenge, the military moving in, moving the fans away, explosions and some indications that World War III is threatening.

But, there is a very humane element, a father with his young son moving through the crowds, photos of his missing daughter, asking for people’s help, their showing interest, but not knowing the girl. In his car, his son urges him to veer off the main road, following two vehicles with a members whom we have been watching. Interestingly, Sergi Lopez and Bruno Nunez Arjona as father and son are the only two professional actors in the film. The others, whom we get to know quite well, are rave followers, keeping their own names and characters throughout the film.

As the vehicles and the car veer away from the crowd, they travel a kind of cinematic bridge from North Morocco South to the Mauritanian border, all kinds of terrain, high mountains and dangerous paths of on their sides, open and sandy desert, the setting up the loudspeakers to play the music only to find that it is a deadly minefield.

The audience identifies more and more with the motley group, their friendliness and generosity, supporting father and son –  until to them and to the audience, a deadly accident, highly disturbing.

Lost in the desert, hints of war, glimpses of tanks, a column in the desert, towing the car through a river, and then the minefield and is blind trust in  walking through it.

Certainly a different cinematic experience, sometimes children, sometimes humane, person, always disturbing.

1. The title, the meaning of the title, the bridge over the chasm hell? The narrative as a symbol of this journey?
2. The settings in Morocco, the desert, the magnificent cliffs, the trip through the desert, the mountain passes, the dangers, the open desert, the minefield? Atmosphere?
3. The musical score, the range of instruments, the pounding and stomping at the rain, the thumping, the different themes during the travel, the atmosphere in the atmospheric some and the end of the film?
4. 25 minutes before the opening title, the setting up of the sound system, the ordinary workers, in the Moroccan desert, the beginnings of the music, the overview of the crowd, the close-ups, the types, the heavy tradition, dropout tradition, protests tradition, drugs? (And most emphasis on sexual relationships)?
5. The introduction Lewis and Esteban, father and son, making their way through the crowd, the search, the missing daughter, the photos, passing the photos, the different responses, cooperation?
6. The military background, the appearance of the Army troops, rounding up the rave enthusiasts, seen in the desert, broadcast, wall, intimations of world War 3? Nothing definite, atmosphere? The focus on the refugees, fleeing? The finale, everybody wagon train is going through the desert – where?
7. The focus on the particular groups, their real names, their backgrounds, ages, nicknames, the missing hand, the amputated leg, the women, tattoos? Love for the rave? Their vehicles? Jade and the destruction, urinating, the vehicle is going on a separate path? Who is following in his van?
8. The acceptance of Lewis and Esteban in the group, food, water, the bargaining for the petrol with the nomads, Lewis offering cash? Father and son and the issue of the chocolate bar, the son wanting to give it, the father eventually offering it? The boy, his age, concerns his sister, wanting to find her, his dog, lost, the search and finding it, like within the group?
9. At the river, seemingly abandoned, lost, the return of the truck, telling them across the River, happiness?
10. The development of the characters, their personalities, interactions, backgrounds, friendly? The episode of Esteban in the car, is reversing, calling out the handbrake, crashing over the cliff, the boy’s death, sudden, his father’s we? The consequences, alone, his walking out into the desert, being recovered by the group?
11. The destination, Mauritania border, another rave? The glimpse of the Hajj on the television set? The music? Playing it in the desert?
12. In the field, setting up the speakers, the minefield, the two deaths, Lewis Mary the bodies, fears, sending the vehicle across, its explosion, Lewis, single-minded, walking to safety, boogie following, his death, the others, moving forward, reaching rocks, climbing the cliff, the open desert?
13. The rescue, the vast number of wagons, the range of refugees, then finding a place with the refugees?
14. The film is a visual experience for the characters, the audience, with the pounding score, the mystery, the quest, the dangers, deaths of the innocent? Those saved?