Sometimes a movie is just a vibe, a recognition that tragedy may not have a narrative but rather a feeling. In Sirat, a North African odyssey of a father and son searching for a lost daughter-sister in the desert south of Moracco after she 5 months ago was lost during a rave.
The sound, setup for 15 minutes in the opening, serves as the major metaphor, which denotes the lack of coherence for wars to come and survival for those enduring the violence of the war that feels impending rather than whimsical. Dad Luis (Sergi Lopez) and grandson, Estaban (Bruno Núñez Arjona), search the desert to find their rave-lost loved one, Mar, only to discover the danger in the pursuit rides along with their own lost selves.
Just a bit of comedy involving excrement and LSD, but too little to say comedy has any appreciable impact on what is essentially a Mad- Max, Wages-of-Fear world bound for the apocalypse.
Just as the drugged-up ravers are searching for a mythical second rave, so, too, Luis’s journey seems less real than almost whimsical, given the slim chances of finding Mar amongst any revelers. What he and his grandson find is kindness from strangers and his own generosity toward them. While tragedy does arrive, as can be expected in this roadway to hell, an inevitability accompanies it while fate must be allowed along with the regret for even attempting such a dangerous trip. Dancing does help the gloom.
Although Sirat is many powerful types of movies from adventure to tragedy, it is that under the terms all of us experience these days—lack of control for the vagaries of fate and decisions of despots. Sirat is not a salve for these sufferings but rather a beautiful and sobering treatment of the indomitable hopeful spirit.
Sirat
Director:Oliver Laxe (Mimosas)
Santiago Fillol (Mimosas) written by and
Oliver Laxe written by
John DeSando, a Los Angeles Press Club first-place winner for National Entertainment Journalism, hosts NPR’s It’s Movie Time and Cinema Classics as well as podcasts Back Talk and Double Take (recently listed by Feedspot as two of the ten best NPR Movie Podcasts) out of WCBE 90.5 FM, Columbus, Ohio.Contact him at JohnDeSando52@gmail.com