Photo Credit: https://www.victoriafilmfestival.com/product/sirat-the-vic/
Winner of the Jury Prize at last year’s Cannes Film Festival and nominated for the Best International Feature and Best Sound awards at this year’s Academy Awards, Olive Laxe’s Sirāt is a film bursting with energy and emotion.
The film follows Luis, a father searching for his daughter at raves in the Moroccan desert alongside his young son Esteban. After a World War III-esque conflict breaks out, Luis flees deep into the desert with a group of ravers, hoping that they will have some idea where his daughter is. Sergi López is stunning in the role of Luis—a largely quiet and internal performance, allowing his brief moments of great anguish to be incredibly affecting. Bruno Núñez is also wonderful as Luis’ son Esteban, turning in one of the best child performances I’ve seen this decade, perfectly capturing an innocence that makes the viewer feel parental towards him. Jade Oukid and Tonin Janvier are the standout performances of the group of ravers, all of whom are non-actors and actual ravers. The pair are absolutely electric for every second of their screen time and their performances would bring some professional actors to shame. Laxe’s direction is incredibly precise and engaging. His formal choices are meticulous and the results are sure to be on your mind for some time.
The film’s cinematography and editing are both great, but where Laxe’s masterful direction really shines is in the sound design. The Oscar nomination is greatly deserved, because Sirāt sounds absolutely sensational. From the ravers’ loud electronic music to a character’s quiet footsteps, every noise in the film immediately connects with the viewer. Laxe could remove every single line of dialogue from his film and it would still be mesmerizing due to the sound design alone.
The film’s themes of perseverance and familial love—be it the blood family of Luis and Esteban or the found family of the ravers—are also incredibly touching and executed in a mature and profound way without feeling twee or sappy, wonderfully tying the film together and making it unforgettable.
Overall, Sirāt is an incredible piece of cinema that you would be foolish to miss out on. From its form to its narrative, it is a meticulously crafted film that is sure to engage and move its viewer through its masterful depiction of
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