The exact meaning of writer-director Oliver Laxe’s new film, “Sirāt,” playing at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Center, dances just out of reach. Before the opening credits roll, the words we read onscreen leave us pondering about what we are about to see: “The Sirāt bridge connects paradise and hell. Whoever ventures across its path is narrower than a strand of hair and sharper than a sword.”
The visuals in the film’s first scene are arresting. We wander through hundreds of dancers moving with almost trancelike abandon to the pulsing beats of techno music that booms off the canyon walls at a massive three-day rave in the Moroccan desert. These events, held in unconventional settings, feature loud electronic dance music, lasers, and often psychedelic visual effects. For this rave, Laxe organized an authentic three-day party advertised throughout Europe, with the intention of filming true-to-life scenes for his film.
Amid the throbbing crowd, a Spanish father, Luis (Sergi López), and his young son, Esteban (Bruno Núñez), wander about, asking repeatedly if anyone has seen Luis’ daughter, who has been missing for five months. Luis believes she might be at a rave, and has thus outfitted a van for him, Esteban, and their endearing dog to search for her, but no one has seen her so far.
Soon an unidentified military force appears, declaring a state of emergency and ordering all E.U. citizens to evacuate the site because of an unnamed eruption between warring countries. Laxe keeps the threat vague, creating an atmosphere of destabilization and uncertainty that runs throughout the narrative. Tensions between the military and ravers run high before a long line of caravan buses starts to depart. Suddenly, two vans carrying five hardcore ravers, played by a nonprofessional cast from Europe’s vibrant free party movement, make a break for it, seeking another rave far deeper in the desert, near Mauritania. Thinking his daughter might be at this next party, Luis and Esteban join in the getaway.
The evolving dynamics between the father and son, and the ravers, play out against the techno music and visually striking desert landscapes.
During the journey, there seem to be nods to paradise as we get to know the ravers, who are seeking something abstract and intangible. Laxe explains, “They are looking for radical coherence, which is to say they have placed their egos beneath their own overriding value system, achieving control over themselves in a way that telegraphs the ultimate freedom.” But there is also the ever-looming presence of hell, as the peripheral conflict bears down upon the group and the story takes unexpected turns.
Laxe says, “Cinematic art is about this balance of saying something and evoking something — and it was enough to evoke World War III off-camera, outside the story. We know what’s happening in the world today — we’ve been talking about the end of the world for a long time. We had to find a way to evoke this energy of global crisis without recreating it onscreen.”
The final image of “Sirāt” is ambiguous, with characters heading toward an uncertain future. But despite the film’s often dark turns, they move toward the light. As the lead actor, López believes that light symbolizes hope that humanity will forge ahead, no matter what lies ahead: “Inside this runaway train we’re all on, there is love, and we know it’s the only thing that can save us. In the end, hope exists because we’re not alone. We continue moving forward in our search for that better world.”
“Sirāt” opens at the M.V. Film Center on March 13. For tickets and information, visit mvfilmsociety.com.
