A library van moves slowly through a misty landscape. It is a link between members of an isolated Welsh community. In the primary school, the dozen or so children are making pinch pot heads out of clay. Then they are at school dinner singing grace in Welsh. Others in the village are shopping, packing bales of straw or cleaning the church. At the library van, people talk about the Womens Institute, the children's choir and the drama group – all long gone.

Outdoor scenes are punctuated by birdsong and the bleating of sheep. In the library van there are gentle close-ups of book choosing. The librarian bemoans the fact that he will soon have to use a laptop. At the farm they are setting up the plough. The ploughing itself makes abstract geometric patterns, shot from above.

There is no commentary, just a close observation of life. When the people speak, their speech is sometimes a little stilted but mostly believable and natural. The village meeting at the school is to protest at its closing but decisions have already been taken elsewhere.

Somewhere else is where this community is. In a time-warp, memories and present day realities overlap. Calves, piglets and lambs are born. The sheep dog trials and village show take place. There are few entries of cakes or vegetables in the show and it's windy and wet. Outside the changing light on the landscape is observed and found to be timeless.

As the residents hang out washing, bake and watch their babies sleep, sheep move in file across the hillside like runners in a surreal race. Unreal too are the woman with her stuffed owl, the single tree in a winter landscape, and the chapel congregation of four, heartily singing in Welsh.

As the remnants of an old farm are sorted into lots to be sold off, there are resonances with the community. Cobwebs hang from windows in the ancient building and curtains move but no longer have any particular substance. 'It is only when I see the end of things I have the courage to speak – the courage but not the words.'

Gideon Koppel's observation of a small farming community in decline has a gentle sadness. Slow long-shots of landscape contrast with a piece of verse about road signs that have a life of their own. Time lapse and long close-ups convey a profound intimacy of people and objects. Graceful and lyrical, Sleep Furiously lovingly examines a community that is losing its past and has not yet invented its future.

CAST: (imdb): www.imdb.com/title/tt1235072/

COMPANY: (imdb): www.imdb.com/title/tt1235072/

END

(c) Peter Andrews 2008

reviewed Thursday 4 December 08 / The Roxy, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK

Fringe Report (c) Fringe Report 2002-2012

www.fringereport.com