‘Sirat’ Review: A Shocker in the Desert
A review in Nytimes calls Oliver Laxe’s "Sirat" a sincere, mesmerizing and admirably unorthodox thriller set in the Moroccan Sahara, following a group of European ravers and a Spanish man searching for his missing daughter.
The film opens with Luis and his son Esteban moving through a desert rave, where relentless beats by David Letellier unite the revelers. After a military convoy declares a state of emergency and many attendees depart, Luis impulsively follows them in a fragile family minivan, and the journey becomes a succession of worsening ordeals and shocks amid striking desert imagery.
The review highlights Laxe’s polished staging and the potency of the film’s cinematography (Mauro Herce) and editing (Cristóbal Fernández), notes the mix of nonprofessional ravers and veteran actor Sergi López, and describes a brief, unsparing scene of violence. The film is rated R for death and runs 1 hour 55 minutes.
Morocco, Moroccan Sahara