Movie Review: A punishing, hypnotic desert rave in Oliver Laxe’s Oscar-nominated 'Sirāt'

A father and his son are searching for their daughter and sister at a rave in the Moroccon desert as the world burns in Oliver Laxe’s “Sirāt.” The Oscar-nominated, Cannes-prize winning film is expanding to more North American theaters Friday. In her review for The Associated Press, film writer Lindsey Bahr writes that “There have been some harrowing films released in the past year, the kind that leave you feeling shattered and a little helpless, from ‘Hamnet’ to ‘The Voice of Hind Rajab.’ But perhaps none have been quite so punishing, so bleak, or so overwhelmingly hypnotic, as ‘Sirāt.’” It's rated R.