Virtually moving reality

I have walked in the sand at Cannes before, but never like this.

In a virtual-reality exhibit directed — designed? created? curated? — by Mexican director Alejandro Inarritu, I experienced an illegal border crossing into the U.S., complete with gun-toting guards, German shepherd dogs and a blast of light and downdraft from a police helicopter. I left the six-minute experience choking back tears, shaking with emotion and adrenalin.

Called Carne Y Arena, the exhibit sits in a hangar at the tiny local airport. A black, tinted-windowed car takes me there from the city centre. Sign this waiver, they say at check-in. Give us your bag, wallet, cellphone, keys and — I have never before relinquished this in my 10 years at the Cannes Film Festival — your press badge.

I enter an ante-chamber, where I remove my shoes and socks. An alarm sounds, which means it’s time to enter the main space. A huge square room, easily 20 metres on a side. Three helpers strap me into a backpack, VR goggles and earphones. A moment later, I am no longer in the south of France. I am in a scrubby Texas desert at dawn.

Migrants come struggling toward me. A woman, helping a limping child who can’t be more than seven. An old man collapses, his water bottle empty. Then the helicopter arrives. Trucks pull up. Dogs. Guards with very big guns. “Put your hands up!” I can’t help but obey. “On your knees!” I remain standing, as the others drop; those who aren’t already in the sand that I can both see and feel beneath my feet. I’m not really here, I tell myself. I’m not really here.

The scene dissolves. I stand before a wooden table, on which a tiny boat, overstuffed with refugees, founders and sinks into the wood. The faceless, six-inch homunculi struggle in absolute silence. I reach out to them. My hand passes through the table. I’m not there.

Another dissolve; I’m back in the desert. The migrants are being separated, men from women. I hesitate, uncertain where to go, and as one of them walks THROUGH me I glimpse her beating heart. They are herded forward. And suddenly I