Sirāt Is Hypnotic, Frustrating, and One of This Year's Best Oscar Nominations

How far are you willing to go to find someone you love, and at what point does survival override morality?

One of the most hypnotic yet frustrating films at this year’s Academy Awards, Sirāt has earned nominations for Best International Feature and Best Sound. This dramatic thriller follows a father and son as they venture into the Moroccan desert searching for their missing daughter and sister. Along the way, they fall in with a roaming group of ravers and follow them ever deeper into the wilderness. What begins as a search gradually becomes harsher and more unpredictable.

The title refers to the Sirāt bridge in Islamic belief, a narrow crossing between heaven and hell where careful steps ensure safe passage but a single misstep leads to ruin. The film mirrors that symbolism, framing the journey as a reckoning with both the landscape and the characters’ choices and limits.