Review of The Sweet Hereafter (1997) by Alison O — 09 Aug 2004

Best in Show: Ian Holm.

One for the future: Sarah Polley.

Stand-out scene: Nicole's deposition.

Brainer or no-brainer: Brainer.

Stands up to one viewing or repeated?: Repeated.

DVD commentary any good?: n/a.

TV.

Once in a while you see a film that makes you realise why it's such a powerful, important and life-enhancing medium. This is one such film (the last time this notion struck me was watching Election, the time before that, Ghost World). Born in Egypt but raised in Western Canada, director Atom Egoyan has here crafted a profoundly moving, yet unsentimental study of the effects of a school bus tragedy on a small, close-knit Canadian town. The device of showing events out of chronological order pleasingly requires the viewer to do some work shuffling the story's developments after the film is over a la Pulp Fiction. A lawyer (Ian Holm, whose personal battle with depression has been well documented over the years) journeys to the snow-covered backwater in the hope of bringing a court action against the person or persons responsible for the accident. He himself bears the baggage of an estranged drug addict of a daughter and throws himself passionately into the self-imposed assignment to seek justice. The community is riven with a number of issues that ultimately have a bearing on the outcome of his quest; adultery, incest, money-grabbing among them. Sarah Polley as the only child survivor of the accident delivers an honest and moving performance, claiming a place alongside Scarlett Johansson, Thora Birch and Natalie Portman as the vanguard of the next generation. Superb.