CANNES, France (AP) 鈥� 鈥淚s this what the end of the world feels like?鈥�
So asks a character in one of the most-talked about films of the Oliver Laxe鈥檚 鈥淪ir芒t,鈥� a Moroccan desert road trip through, we come to learn, a World War III purgatory.
It鈥檚 well into 鈥淪ir芒t,鈥� a kind of combination of 鈥淢ad Max鈥� and 鈥淭he Wages of Fear,鈥� that that reality begins to sink in. Our main characters 鈥� Luis (Sergi L贸pez) and his son Esteban (Br煤no Nu帽ez) 鈥� have come to a desert rave in search of Luis鈥� missing daughter. When the authorities break it up, they join up with a bohemian troupe of ravers who offroad toward a new, faraway destination.
Thumping, propulsive beats abound in 鈥淪ir芒t,鈥� not unlike they do at Cannes' nightly parties. In this movie that jarringly confronts the notion of escape from harsh reality, there are wild tragedies and violent plot turns. Its characters steer into a nightmare that looks an awful lot like today鈥檚 front pages.
鈥淲e wanted to be deeply connected to this day and age,鈥� Laxe said in Cannes.
As much as Cannes basks in the C么te d鈥橝zur sunshine, storm clouds have been all over its movie screens at the festival, which on Monday passed the halfway point. Portents of geopolitical doom are everywhere in a lineup that鈥檚 felt unusually in sync with the moment. , in 鈥淢ission: Impossible 鈥� Final Awakening,鈥� has battled the AI apocalypse. Raoul Peck, in 鈥淥rwell: 2 + 2 = 5,鈥� has summoned the author鈥檚 totalitarianism warnings for today. Even (鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme鈥�) is about an oligarch.
If the French Riviera has often served as a spectacular retreat from the real world, this year鈥檚 Cannes abounds with movies urgently reckoning with it. It鈥檚 probably appropriate, then, that many of those films have been particularly divisive.
鈥淪ir芒t鈥� is laudable for its it's-time-to-break-stuff attitude to its characters, even if that makes for a sometimes punishing experience for the audience. This is a love-or-hate-it movie, sometimes at the same time.
perhaps the largest American production in recent years to sincerely grapple with contemporary American politics, was dismissed more than it was praised. But for a good while, 鈥淓ddington鈥� is breathtakingly accurate in its depiction of the United States circa 2020.
In 鈥淓ddington,鈥� the conservative, untidy sheriff Joe Cross (Joaquin Phoenix) runs for mayor against the liberal incumbent, Ted Garcia (Pedro Pascal), partly over disagreements on mask mandates. But in Aster鈥檚 small-town satire, both left and right are mostly under the sway of a greater force: social media and a digital reality that can wreak havoc on daily lives.
鈥淚 wrote this film in a state of fear and anxiety about the world,鈥� Aster said in Cannes. 鈥淚 wanted to try and pull back and just describe and show what it feels like to live in a world where nobody can agree on what is real anymore.鈥�
Reflecting a world running on a 'new logic鈥�
It鈥檚 been striking how much this year鈥檚 Cannes has been defined by anxious, if not downright bleak visions of the future. There have been exceptions 鈥� most notably Richard Linklater鈥檚 charming ode to the French New Wave and Anderson鈥檚 delightful 鈥淭he Phoenician Scheme.鈥� But seldom has this year鈥檚 festival not felt like an ominous big-screen reflection of today.
That鈥檚 been true in the overall chatter around the festival, which got underway with the new threat of U.S. tariffs on foreign-produced films on the minds of many filmmakers and producers. Rising geopolitical frictions led even the typically very optimistic Bono, in Cannes to to confess he had never lived at a time where World War III felt closer at hand.
Other films in Cannes weren鈥檛 as overtly about here and now as 鈥淓ddington,鈥� but many of them have been consumed with the recurring traumas of the past. Two of the most lauded films from the beginning of the festival 鈥� Mascha Schilinski鈥檚 鈥淪ound of Falling鈥� and 鈥淭wo Prosecutors,鈥� by the Ukrainian filmmaker Sergei Loznitsa 鈥� contemplated intimate cases of history repeating itself.
鈥淭wo Prosecutors,鈥� set in Stalin鈥檚 Russia, captures the slow-moving crawl of bureaucratic malevolence by adapting a story by the dissident author and physicist Georgy Demidov, who spent 14 years in the gulag. Loznitsa said his film is 鈥渘ot a reflection of the past. It鈥檚 a reflection of the present.鈥�
In the period political thriller 鈥淭he Secret Agent,鈥� Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendon莽a Filho turns to not a real historical tale but a fictional one, set in 1977 during Brazil鈥檚 military dictatorship.
Wagner Moura brings a natural movie-star cool to the role of Marcelo, a technology expert returning to his hometown of Recife where government corruption is rife and hitmen are on his tail. Vividly textured, with absurdist touches (the hairy leg of a corpse plays as a colorful metaphor for the dictatorship), 鈥淭he Secret Agent鈥� seeks, and sometimes finds, its own logic of political resistance.
鈥淚 really believe that some of the most heartfelt texts come not necessarily from fact but from the logic of what is happening,鈥� Filho said in an interview. 鈥淩ight, now the world seems to be running on some kind of new logic. Ten or 15 years ago, some of these ideas would be completely dismissed, even by the most conservative politicians. I think 鈥楾he Secret Agent鈥� is a film full of mystery and intrigue but it does seem to have a certain logic which I associate with my country, Brazil.鈥�
Finding the rays of hope
In nonfiction filmmaking, no one may be better today than Peck (鈥淚 Am Not Your Nego,鈥� last year鈥檚 ) in connecting historical dots. 鈥淥rwell: 2 + 2 = 5鈥� marries George Orwell鈥檚 words (narrated by Damian Lewis) on totalitarian states that demand 鈥渢he disbelief of objective truth鈥� with the actions of contemporary governments around the world, including Russia, Myanmar and the United States. Images of a runs with its official description: 鈥淧eacekeeping operations.鈥�
It鈥檚 not just geopolitical tremors quaking on movie screens in Cannes. Climate change and natural disasters are on the minds of filmmakers, too, sometimes in the most unlikely of movies.
The French animated film 鈥淎rco,鈥� by illustrator Ugo Bienvenu, is about a boy from the distant future who lives on a 鈥淛etsons鈥�-like platform in the clouds. He travels back in time to another future-time, 2075, where homes are bubbled to protect them from fire and storm, and robots do all of the parenting for working parents who appear to their children only as digital projections.
It鈥檚 a grim future, particularly so because it feels quite plausible. But the strange charm of 鈥淎rco,鈥� a brightly colored movie with a whole lot of rainbows, is that is offers a younger generation a dream of a future they might make. A relationship between the boy from the future and a girl who finds him in 2075 sparks not just a friendship but a nourishing vision of what鈥檚 possible.
鈥淎rco,鈥� in that way, is a reminder that the most moving movies about our current doom offer a ray of hope, too.
鈥淧eople are feeling disenchanted with the world, so we have to re-enchant them,鈥� said Laxe, the 鈥淪ir芒t鈥� director. 鈥淭imes are tough but they鈥檙e very stimulating at the same time. We鈥檒l have to look deeply into ourselves. That鈥檚 what we鈥檙e forced to do because it鈥檚 a tough world now.鈥�
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Jake Coyle has covered the Cannes Film Festival since 2012. He鈥檚 seeing approximately 40 films at this year鈥檚 festival and
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
