The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

In synopsis The Sweet Hereafter may sound like a devastatingly unpleasant downer, but don't be discouraged. The real subjects of this luminous picture (adapted by director Atom Egoyan from Russell Banks's novel) are hope and renewal--avoiding the cheap emotions suggested by those clichéd terms. Like other Egoyan films (Exotica, for one), it's an intriguing sort of mystery, a puzzle in which the big picture is not revealed until the very last piece is in place. A metropolitan attorney (Ian Holm) travels to a small British Columbian town where 14 children have been killed in a school bus accident to prepare a class-action suit. With sensitivity and empathy, he approaches relatives with promises that the suit will give focus and closure to their grief. And as he investigates the circumstances of the accident, he not only uncovers a few local secrets, but dredges up some painful pieces of his own past. Slowly, deeper mysteries are revealed--eternal mysteries at the very heart of human nature: Who is to blame for a tragedy like this? And why do people feel such a need to assign blame? Is that how they give meaning to otherwise inconceivable events? How does one reassemble a shattered life? The Sweet Hereafter is too honest to offer bromides, but it shows how a few people struggle, as best they can, to answer these questions for themselves. DVD extras include audio commentary by Egoyan and Banks, a Charlie Rose interview with Egoyan, and a panel discussion with the filmmakers. --Jim Emerson Amazon.com essential video

Hauntingly beautiful!!

I saw this movie after I had read about it in a list of 100 daring movies. It truly is, in so many ways. The scene with the school bus is one I will never forget. There are many layers to this movie, and I enjoyed them. November 20, 2008

Quiet, dreamlike, somber, and riveting

Don't watch this if you are subject to becoming depressed by sad movies. The Sweet Hereafter is, however, one of those films that has a dreamlike quality that sucks you in. The art of it is very appealing to me. Some will say it is slow, too quiet, a downer. But I think the emotion of it provides more than enough intensity.

The movie is based on a novel which is itself somewhat based on a true story of a small town in Texas where tragically many of the town's children were killed in a schoolbus accident, and ambulance-chasing lawyers descended on the town like a swarm of hungry locusts. The townspeople eventually received hundreds of millions of dollars in damages from a company which may or may not have really been responsible for the accident.

The movie takes this premise in a different direction. It focuses on one lawyer who comes to town and interviews witnesses, survivors, and moms and dads who lost their kids. The lawyer himself is going through a vaguely similar personal crisis -- losing his daughter to drugs. Great disruption is bubbling in the town because of the tragedy and the impending, potentially enriching, lawsuit. The ending is a surprise, turning everything upside down for a reason that has nothing to do with the accident, and no one will ever likely know the real reason.

What is the movie really about? It is about grief turning to boiling anger, mixed with greed. It is about the secret lives of ordinary people in small towns. It is about how justice can be meted out in strange ways.

I saw this several years ago, and then again this week. Both times I was riveted. August 28, 2008

The Sweet Hereafter Platinum Series

Great movie, but the promised extras in the "Platinum Series" fell short. In fact, one menu item didn't even play. July 4, 2008

Bleak in theme, but amazingly well made.

A school bus careens off a snowy road and onto a frozen lake. Within seconds, the next act will change the many lives within a frosty upstate New York community. One father will turn to an extramarital affair, one girl will position herself to obtain the sweetest form of revenge on her abusive father, and a greedy, yet somehow earnest, attorney will turn to face his own domestic demons and the past that hauntingly mocks him.

The Sweet Hereafter is the type of film that captures the complete attention of the audience with its virtuoso adaptation from novel to film. It is perhaps one of the most lingering films I've ever seen, and when the closing scenes depicts the forthcoming headlights shining through thin curtains as a young teenaged girl stares back at them with brittle anticipation, you will know why.
June 16, 2008

Amazing and haunting. It will stay with you.

I came across the title of this film while researching movies starring Sarah Polley, who's an amazing actress (and now director). Polley is one of those talents who is underused and underrated--a true diamond in the rough.
At any rate, I did not know of this movie or the book version and gave the film a try. I was not at all let down. In fact, I feel as though I discovered a film to add to my short list of favorites.
Polley plays a teen whose life is altered in the aftermath of a schoolbus crash. One of the only survivors of the crash, her testimony is important to the case being brought by an out-of-town attorney (played by Ian Holm) who shows up seemingly out of nowhere to stir up a case for the parents left childless or those otherwise affected by the crash. Holm's character, Stephens, is intriguing and viewers are left to wonder if he was drawn to this case out of greed or to quell his own internal demons.
The movie is haunting. The characters, though from this simple town (in fact, even the landscape is black and white--changing only at the very end), are multidimensional and layered with complexity and secrets. The outcome of the film is unexpected yet necessary.
The Sweet Hereafter is a film you won't soon forget. March 1, 2008

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