Review of The Sweet Hereafter (1997) by Isabelle W — 26 Mar 2010

One of the strongest images in The Sweet hereafter is the evening skies and the great big hills towering over a small community buried in grief and dread. Why is this small town griefing in pain? Fourteen children died in a school bus accident. A lawyer wants to reopen the case and bring jutice to what really happend on that tragic day, oh and he will also get 1/3 of the money if he is successful. The lawyer is also living in grief and dread because his daughter is a drug addict who makes unexpected calls to her father so he can send her some money.

Sarah Polley is a crucial character who is involved in an incestial relationship with her father. Polley's character was also one of the survivors of the schoolbus accident who her father and the lawyers want her to testify. Bruce Greenwood's character plays a hard nosed kinda guy who alays drives behind the school bus to wave to his kids, he is in conflict with the lawyers and believes that opening up the case is just going discourage more grief and sadness. He's right.

Filmmaker Atom Egoyan paints his picture in a non-linear setting where events are sometimes shifted through the past and the present(Egoyan trademark) The cinematography by Paul Sarossy is amazing and captivating, it is one of the first things a viewer will take notice during the opening scenes.

Flawless performances and Egoyan's touch of directing puts him in a class of his own, he was also noticed for putting in thematical device using the story of "The Pied Piper" where a boy who is crippled can't follow the rest of the children following the Piper. In The Sweet hereafter Egoyan uses the Pied Piper theme from Polley's POV since she survived the accident but is unable to accept life and is angy with her father because of their incest relationship. The film's tone is all about emotions about the human condition. Egoyan has compassion for his characters and the lonely griefing town in The Sweet hereafter.