There are only four South African films being screened at the 56th London Film Festival and one of those is Sleeper’s Wake. The film is writer-director Barry Berk’s feature debut and has been shortlisted for the 2012 BFI London Film Festival’s Sutherland Award which will be awarded to the Best Directorial Debut Feature. We won’t know what the Sutherland Award jury think about Sleeper’s Wake until Saturday 20 October 2012, but in the meantime we can tell you what we thought of it.
Tragedy has touched the life of John Wraith (Lionel Newton). He wakes up from a coma disorientated and in agony in a hospital in Durban, South Africa. He soon learns that on the drive home from a family trip to the beach his car careered off the road and crashed – killing his wife and daughter instantly and leaving him with a six inch gash across his forehead.
Physically and emotionally scarred and unable to cope – John takes the advice of his sister and heads out of the city. He arrives at a secluded nature reserve called ‘Nature’s Cove’ where he stays in his sister’s chalet. Alone and now even more isolated, John continues to be consumed by a grief fuelled by alcohol and intense
