The initial scenario is a city fronting a barren plain in Morocco, with the majestic Atlas mountains in the background. The manager of a taxi agency is assigning jobs to prospective drivers. He has a special assignment not involving driving; to guide an old, gravely ill sheik to Sijilmasa, where he expects to be buried. The sheik's wife and a few hired helpers are along for the trek. The driver chosen as guide is young Shakib. The other drivers are quick to point out his lack of experience but the boss credits him with having baraka (a divine blessing that provides spiritual force).
The whole purpose of the expedition is puzzling, as Sijilmassa is accessible by road. Nobody in the group (including Shakib) seems to know how to get to Sijilmassa and they finally choose to cut across the mountains on paths that cross dangerous rivers or are mere shelves carved in dizzying rock walls. The caravan doesn't attain its objective; the sheikh dies on the way and shortly after the group is beset by bandits.
Sijilmassa, a thriving city in the Middle Ages was abandoned at the beginning of the 19th century and now survives as a vast array of ruins frequented by tourists and archeologists (we see Sijilmassa in its former splendor in a wall painting at the beginning). The action is divided in three parts, each named after a Sufi prayer position; In fact religion is the key to the tale. Shakib's faith is childlike, sometimes unsophisticated and uninformed (which causes ribbing from his companions). He believes that the path to truth will be revealed to those that look sincerely for it. And, his religion is not purely a mental construct; it motivates his actions, as when he confronts a group of bandits single handed and poorly armed. In a dialogue near the end Shakib refers to Sijilmassa, in its medieval splendor, as a city of supernatural wonders, a step to Heaven or Heaven itself. This makes the story a religious pilgrimage which does not attain its end but where truths and revelations are found in the way.
French born Galician director Oliver Laxe tells the tale in an austere, minimalistic way (perhaps too much so at times) supported by the excellent cinematography of Mauro Herce that captures equally well the melancholic desert vistas and the stark, forbidding landscapes of the Atlas Mountains. Acting is flawless; most of the actors are nonprofessionals playing themselves. A quality film.
