The Sweet Hereafter

1997 "There is no such thing as the simple truth."
7.5| 1h52m| R| en| More Info
Released: 21 November 1997 Released
Producted By: Fine Line Features
Country: Canada
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer arrives to help the survivors' and victims' families prepare a class-action suit, but his efforts only seem to push the townspeople further apart. At the same time, one teenage survivor of the accident has to reckon with the loss of innocence brought about by a different kind of damage.

Genre

Drama

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Director

Atom Egoyan

Production Companies

Fine Line Features

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The Sweet Hereafter Audience Reviews

UnowPriceless hyped garbage
Cleveronix A different way of telling a story
ThrillMessage There are better movies of two hours length. I loved the actress'performance.
Suman Roberson It's a movie as timely as it is provocative and amazingly, for much of its running time, it is weirdly funny.
tangreat-bk A slow burner that will leave you emotionally devastated by the time it ends. This reminded me a lot of Manchester by the sea. The small town, the accident, the grief. If you loved Manchester, you're surely going to love this. Or vice versa. I think. Maybe. Who knows.
Sameir Ali The Sweet Hereafter is an amazing beautiful, but shocking movie. The impact will stay with you for sometime.Mitchell Stevens is a lawyer who comes to a town that met with a disaster. Almost all kids were killed in a school bus accident. He goes to each family to file a law suit against whoever responsible for the tragedy. The families believe it was an accident, while he try to convince them there is nothing called an accident.The nonlinear narrative may be confusing for some audience. In that case, please do watch it a second time. Once you can solve that part, you will get a very shocking movie.Beautifully and carefully made movie got 2 Oscar nominations. The movie is little slow and confusing, but a definitely must watch.Highly recommended.#KiduMovie
JasonGuzman Excellently paced, disjointed editing for maximal effect. How greed can hinder our sense of community and morality. Excellent Ensemble cast. Sarah Polley is excellent as a survivor whose family hires a lawyer to represent her and other families wounded emotionally from an accident. The lawyer is tired of giving into his daughter's whims and fueling her addiction and wants to help her but thinks its futile while he is taking advantage of peoples emotions for gain. This movie makes you think about morality, community, integrity, loss and suffering. For serious filmgoers it is one not to miss. Theirugeiurgheirugheiurghieurhgieurhgieurhgieurghieruhgeiruhgeiru gheiurghieurhgieurhgiuehrgiuehriguehriguheriugheiruhguierhgieurhg uiehrgiuheriguheriugheirugheirugheiruhgeirughieurhgieurhgieurhgiu ehrguiehr
Artimidor Federkiel A single horrific accident that reaps away dozens of children jolts a small town out of its reverie. The damage done is irreparable, and it's up to the lawyers to find a culprit, because after all someone has to be made responsible, big time... - Atom Egoyan's "The Sweet Hereafter", based on Russell Banks' novel bearing the same title, is a writer's/filmmaker's take on events that actually took place in Alton, Texas, in 1989 where the disaster involving dozens of fatalities led to an array of lawsuits to reach settlements as compensation for the deaths of the children. In the process people who shared the same trauma and grief became even further estranged from each other, despite or especially because of the reparations that were paid. Maybe the price tags put on the children were varying, but it was only a symptom - things could never be the same again. Whole futures perished with the lives lost in an instance, and the animosities the lawsuits brought with them made it even harder to move on for everyone involved.Canadian filmmaker Egoyan does not tell that particular story, but a fictional version of it, thereby even upstaging Banks' source material e.g. by adding a recurring spot-on poetical reference that is prone to send shivers down your spine. Also in focus of the film: The tight-knit community and a lawyer trying to help people make a case, resulting in a stirring slice-of-life portrayal of loss and how to cope with it seen from different angles. Tragic figures abound, nobody is spared, among them the lawyer himself (the outstanding Ian Holm), who has to deal with his own unrelated personal loss, or the paralyzed 14-year old survivor of the incident (touchingly played by Sarah Polley) who has to make a serious decision that will affect the whole community. The theme of estrangement, melancholy and helplessness permeates every action, always dominated by the question: How could one possibly get over a tragedy like that? But while the film comes across as sincere and real through the subtle way it was shot, its bittersweet visual poetry will haunt you, and the picture is also bold enough to go for a very powerful, unexpected final statement. "The Sweet Hereafter" is a deeply involving, mature and a thought-provoking piece of cinema and along with "Exotica" among Egoyan's very best.