Sirāt

“Is this what the end of the world feels like?” asks a nomad who travels from one rave to the next in Morocco’s Sahara Desert. Whenever there’s a paradigm shift in the culture, it feels like the end times. For some, the year 2000 was supposed to bring about The End, starting with a technological collapse. According to the Mayans and Roland Emmerich, 2012 was supposed to bring about Armageddon. Various Christian groups said the Rapture was expected to happen earlier this year, but, you know, it didn’t. And for those who follow science, we’ve got about 25 years or less before the climate degrades beyond repair, marking a planetwide environmental downfall. All of this says nothing about the ebbs and flows of war, politics, and disease. So yes, the world seems to always be on the brink. That’s why Óliver Laxe named his film Sirāt, after the Arabic word meaning “path” or “way.” The term also refers to a bridge linking Paradise and Hell in Islamic scripture. In other words, we’re all on a path, headed to our ultimate demise.

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