Film Review: THE WAKE
by Karen Pecota

Luis Gerard's short film THE WAKE recently qualified to be considered for an OSCAR® at the 95th Academy Awards in 2023.

Filmmaker Luis Gerard features deaf actor Zander Colbeck-Bhola in his third short film THE WAKE to address a scenario of gun accessibility among minors and its consequences. Notable is that the whole cast learned sign language for this film. An I mpressive and commendable action to say the least thus making this narrative so relatable.

Gerard's short film appears in a timely manner within our cultural diversity and outrage of how irresponsible young people can be who have access to firearms, and who should never be allowed to covet such a weapon.

Synopsis:

A young deaf boy, Martin Carpenter (Zander Colbeck-Bhola), and his hearing teenage brother Walter (Isaac Kragton) are raised in a small town surrounded by death. The boys' parents, Gary (Robert Fulton) and Ivy Carpenter (Patty Sullivan) own the local funeral home. Gary and Ivy often leave the boys to tend to themselves as the workload to keep their business afloat takes them away from a normal traditional family life.

Walter discovers that he can take advantage of mourning families while they attend a wake at the funeral home or a burial at the deceased loved one's gravesite. When the families are away, Walter goes into the empty homes of the deceased and helps himself to items of value because he figures they won't need them now that their lives have ended. Guns are his desired treasure to snatch.

Martin looks up to his teenage brother and longs to be with him but disapproves of Walter's escapades. Martin doesn't like being alone so accepts the recruitment of Walter to join his robberies. Martin doesn't like guns either but will oblige to accept his gun training from Walter. The brothers are unaware of how their child's play will affect the other or the consequences that await.