Educational Media Reviews Online

Sleep Furiously is Gideon Koppel’s year long cinematic study of the remote Welsh farming village when he grew up. The camera follows the meandering track of the library book van through the village byways, shows a woodworker shortening the base that a taxidermic owl perches on, and lingers on a group of elderly ladies sharing memories and laughing over old photographs. The film is a fascinating lyrical contrast of old village ways with sheep herding trials and an agricultural fair, with modern mechanized agriculture. Unfortunately the village is losing its core—the primary school is closing and no one is exactly sure what will become of the building itself.

Sleep Furiously, is a study of beginnings, the birth of farm animals, and endings, the end of the rural way of life, a sad farm auction. While the film is graced with some of the most gleefully exuberant sheep this reviewer has ever seen, overall it moves at a very leisurely pace made slower by the absence of a narrative line. The cinematography is exquisite and the music enhances the film. Recommended for specialized collections and suitable for all audience levels.