Cannes correspondent Shannon Cotter looks at Óliver Laxe’s EDM-fuelled road trip movie, which turns out to be one of the festival’s biggest surprises.
At the Cannes Film Festival, there always tends to be a few shockers, films with no previous buzz that suddenly swoop in and steal the show. It’s an oddity mirrored by the much-lauded Parasite (2019) and, more recently, Justine Triet’s Anatomy of a Fall (2023).
While not the overall winner of the festival (Sirât nabbed a joint Jury Prize with Mascha Schilinski’s Sound of Falling, by no means a small feat), Sirât has very much solidified itself as the 78th edition’s greatest outlier. Bold, original and abrasive, the film promises to remain on the minds of filmgoers and critics alike as worlds, both fictional and real, supersede into tension.
The plot is deceptively simple. A man, Luis (Sergi López), and his son, Esteban (Bruno Núñez Arjona), are on the search for missing daughter Mar, a raver they believe could be lost among the throngs of dancers in Morocco. Their search failing to turn up trumps, they request to follow a ragtag group composed of Stef (Stefania Gadda), Josh (Joshua Liam Henderson), Tonin (Tonin Janvier), Jade (Jade Oukid) and Bigui (Richard Bellamy) to a rave further south in the desert. However, as the journey unfurls, the more hints of outer conflict start popping up and the scale of the story unwinds into something far beyond a road trip movie.
At the outset, the crew are reluctant for the duo to join them, only somewhat appeased by an offer from Luis to purchase fuel for them (a growing commodity). His jeep is not equipped for the roving hills and rocky climbs of the Sahara Desert, and there is a sense of anticipation gripping the screen as to whether they will make it or not. Laxe makes strong use of the terrain with impressive vehicle manoeuvring – an easily tamed Mad Max. The dusty colour palette and a layer of grime coat everything; one can imagine sitting unwashed in vans for days, weighing out a rationed supply of food which needs to carry the characters to their unknown destination. It doesn’t make for a visually appetising trip, but the characters, sun-beaten, scarred, and some with physical disabilities, are indifferent to the precarious nature of their journey.
Initially (or at least a misinterpretation on my end, perhaps), there is a wonder to how dissociated from reality these people can be. Is it an element of privilege? Is it the ability to ignore these clashes if they’re not directly happening to the bystanders? When soldiers look to evacuate European citizens, the group simply breaks away from them in a “stick it to the man” fashion. But as the film delves deeper into the individual cracks within the collective and the surrounding conflict (often only splices on the radio), it’s clear they are worn down by a system that didn’t save them at the time and will not appear to do so any day soon. There is an understanding of their pursuit of constant exhilaration through music, supported by the pulsing techno beats of French artist Kangding Ray.
The less said about the plot of Sirât, the better, a statement often applied to many films, but in this case vitally true. Laxe takes swings often unseen in cinema, a tonal change jerking your head back and making you wonder: did they really just do that? Only to find they did — and it can get much worse from here on out. Backed by sweeping shots of an unending expanse, director of photography Mauro Herce never lets go of the grit. The lack of comfort the characters experience is mirrored by the audience. Within this terrain there is an untamed beauty, but its sparseness is as threatening as it is alluring, a visual metaphor for the dangers of cutting oneself off from the world and the systems that support it.
This meditative study on human connection and the power of music changes what initially appears to be a “chosen family” film, into a much deeper, curious one that should last long beyond Cannes. Its gradual shift never indicates the premise doesn’t deliver; in fact, you got just what you came for… and so much more.
Sirât had its world premiere in the main competition at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on 15 May 2025.
