You Cannot Triumph With A Sling Or A Stone: Sleeping Giant

The title of Andrew Cividino’s first feature film, Sleeping Giant, implies a threat, something that’s not only bigger than we are but also potentially dangerous, something that could awaken at any time to destroy us. The nature of this giant is hinted at but never explicitly stated, and the film itself also bears hidden threats, those which reveal themselves not only throughout the course of its running time, but also long after the credits have rolled. It’s a remarkable achievement and a stunning debut.

Cividino conveys much with the setting of the film. The unmistakable beauty of Ontario cottage country in the summer might cause viewers to think they’re in for a nostalgic look at innocent, unspoiled youth and the joys to be found therein. Yet those who think back fondly upon their teenage years often have extremely short memories, something that Sleeping Giant asserts from its very beginning.

Most films about teenagers utilize actors who are older, thus imbuing that awkward and often terrifying period with a kind of young adult glamour that isn’t real. The teens in Sleeping Giant are actual teenagers: Adam (Jackson Martin), Nate (Nick Serino), and Riley (Reece Moffett) are all spending the summer near the lake but for different reasons and with different baggage in tow. If it sounds heartbreaking to imagine teenagers with baggage, then prepare to have your heart broken.

Nate is the most volatile of the group: he talks a lot of trash and wreaks a lot of havoc. He and his cousin Riley are spending the summer with Nate’s grandmother, who lets her grandson smoke cigarettes but doesn’t like it when he drops F-bombs in her presence. Riley goes along with many of Nate’s shenanigans, even as he tries to discard that part of his personality and spend more time with Adam and Adam’s parents, who both dote on their obviously shy and often awkward son. 

Everyone has secrets, but the one that truly sets everything in motion is petty and predictable. This isn’t to say that the narrative of Sleeping Giant is clichéd or trite, however. In fact, it makes Adam seem, for a brief period, to be more mature than his own father, which is a scary thing.

Sleeping Giant doesn’t present any over the top, action-packed set pieces, but it does force us to bear witness to the subtle degradation of the soul. A dead seagull on a rocky cliff feels like a metaphor for something much larger and more nefarious. And despite all the tragedy that takes place in the film, perhaps the most disturbing thing to witness is Adam and Riley lighting matches and burning small pieces of bark, one of which includes a helpless bug that tries to escape but is caught in the flames. Was it on purpose or an accident? 

There’s a scene towards the end of the film that feels like something we’ve seen before in other films. Adam and Riley get into a physical altercation that’s different from the horseplay we saw in the beginning of the film, and this time it’s predicated by a betrayal. That’s when it hits you: what’s truly frightening about Sleeping Giant isn’t that these are teenagers, it’s that the lies and deceptions in which they are ensnared aren’t any different from the ones we battle in the adult world. That sleeping giant will always wake up, no matter how hard we try to prevent it.

Sleeping Giant premieres April 8 at the Cineplex Odeon Varsity and VIP Cinemas in Toronto, Ontario.