\u00a9Courtesy of Neon<\/p>\n
Rave culture has always thrived outside the mainstream, an underground heartbeat pulsing against the silence of daily life. For many, the rave isn\u2019t just music\u2014it\u2019s rebellion, refuge, and pilgrimage.<\/p>\n
The ravers of “Sir\u0101t<\/strong>“<\/em>, Oliver Laxe\u2019s Cannes Jury Prize winner and Spain\u2019s Oscar contender, now creating buzz at the New York Film Festival, embody just that. We first meet them dancing in Morocco\u2019s Sahara Desert by giant, bass-heavy speakers at an illegal party. Under the open sky, far from city streets, bodies move as one. Strangers from around the world surrender to rhythm and euphoria, as if the dance floor itself were the only homeland they\u2019ve ever needed. They have found their Mecca. The opening of “Sir\u0101t”<\/em> literally shakes the screen.<\/p>\n Amid this charged atmosphere, Luis, a Spanish father (Sergi L\u00f3pez of “Pan\u2019s Labyrinth”<\/em>, the only professional actor in the film), and his preteen son Esteban (Bruno N\u00fa\u00f1ez Arjona) hand out flyers with a picture of Mar\u2014their missing daughter and sister, who vanished five months earlier\u2014searching for her among the anonymous crowd. Their dog Pipa trails faithfully by their side. Suddenly, authorities arrive to shut down the rave, citing near-apocalyptic global crises. \u201cIt\u2019s been the end of the world for a long time,\u201d someone mutters. The undertones evoke themes on migration and fascism. We are on the brink of World War III, in an alternative present or near future.<\/p>\n The father and son fall in with a group of vibrant ravers\u2014tattooed, optimistic, some missing limbs\u2014who escape toward another rave party in the desert gathering near the Mauritanian border. Luis and Esteban follow in their small van, still clinging to hope of finding Mar there. Suspicious at first, the ravers eventually welcome them into a found family.<\/p>\n <\/ins><\/p>\n What follows is an unexpected road trip, a sort of fusion of “Mad Max<\/strong>“<\/em>, “Easy Rider<\/strong>“<\/em> (1969), and Tarkovsky\u2019s “Stalker<\/strong>“<\/em> (1979). The result is a rare blend of accessibility and arthouse, an existential ride that burns into the heart and lingers on the skin. To say more would spoil its spell;\u00a0Sir\u0101t is a film to be entered blind, and to be seen on the largest screen possible.<\/p>\n Oliver Laxe, the French-Spanish filmmaker with Galician roots who lived twelve years in Tangier, Morocco, has always made cinema of poetic imagery, spiritual undertones, and deep ties to landscape. His films\u2014“You All Are Captains<\/strong>“<\/em> (2010), “Mimosas<\/strong>”\u00a0<\/em>(2016), “Fire Will Come<\/strong>“<\/em> (2019), and now “Sir\u0101t<\/strong>” <\/em>\u2014 blend realism and mysticism, often turning landscapes into spiritual mirrors. Co-written with longtime collaborator Santiago Fillol and produced by Pedro Almod\u00f3var, “Sir\u0101t<\/strong>“<\/em> is fragile yet feverish, haunted by longing and loss, physical and emotional wounds. It lingers long after the last frame.<\/p>\n A central heartbeat is the score by Kangding Ray. One of Laxe\u2019s earliest inspirations for the film was Nietzsche\u2019s line: \u201cI won\u2019t believe in a God who doesn\u2019t dance\u201d. The result is a soundscape of deep bass, throbbing techno, and trance-inducing rhythms. The music drives Mauro Herce\u2019s stunning 16mm cinematography, and together with the immersive sound design, turns the desert into a space both expansive and claustrophobic. Image and sound merge into one.<\/p>\n In the end, after sequences that make you want to cover your eyes, “Sir\u0101t<\/strong>“<\/em> is, above all, a spiritual experience \u2013 a new experience. Oliver Laxe guides us across dimensions of reflection\u2014on life, on mortality, on the razor-thin line between hope and despair. Just as sir\u0101t means \u201cpath\u201d in Arabic, with its religious connotations, this is a journey and a passage. And where better to walk it than the Moroccan desert, where the bass rules the day.<\/p>\n Grade: A-<\/p>\n<\/ins>\n If you like the review, share your thoughts below.<\/strong><\/p>\n