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\n\tIt starts with hands, and bodies, and music. We\u2019re somewhere in the middle of nowhere \u2014 more specifically, deep within the heart of the Moroccan desert. Men are stacking massive speakers on top of each other. They soon crackle and hum to life, a monumental metallic wall of sound reverberating off the base of a mountain range. Once the beat kicks in, hundreds of dust-covered dancers begin writhing together, though not in unison. Everyone here at this rave is very much on their own trip. And you, dear viewer, are about to embark on yours.<\/p>\n
\n\tTaking its name from an Arabic word referring to the bridge between heaven and hell \u2014 \u201cnarrower than a strand of hair and sharper than a sword\u201d \u2014 Oliver Laxe\u2019s Sir\u0101t<\/em> is both a chronicle of paradise, in the form of a D.I.Y. dance-music scene that functions as a self-sustaining misfit community, and a mural of existential misery that would make Hieronymus Bosch wince. Our Virgil-like tour guide is Luis (Pan\u2019s Labyrinth<\/em> actor Sergi L\u00f3pez), a middle-aged father searching for his M.I.A. daughter. He thinks she might have joined these nomadic ravers as they travel from one bass-drop oasis to the next. Along with his young son, Esteban (Bruno N\u00fa\u00f1ez Arjona), and their pet dog, they show pictures of the young woman to the dancers, asking if anyone has seen her around. None have. <\/p>\n \n\tBefore Luis can canvas everyone, the military shows up to kill the buzz and the event. Political instability of an unknown origin is hitting a boiling point, and it\u2019s not safe for these folks to be out here. Trucks and vans leave in convoys. Luis decides to follow one quintet who may be headed to another party a few days away. They are Jade (Jade Oukid), Bigui (Richard Bellamy), Steff (Stefania Gadda), Tonin (Tonin Janvier), and Josh (Joshua Liam Henderson). The fact that the actors and characters share the same names isn\u2019t coincidental; Laxe recruited these nonprofessionals from the actual desert-rave circuit he\u2019d become intimately familiar with over the past six years. No one is playing themselves, naturally, but the ease at which they navigate this treacherous terrain and their distinct style of gutterpunk chic is 100-percent their own.<\/p>\n