Review of The Sweet Hereafter (1997) by Brian E — 12 Jan 2010

After viewing the promising attempt-turned-mediocre execution entitled 'Adoration' from earlier this year, my attention was crystallized toward Atom Egoyan's strive for directing the purity of being human in a decayed social climate.

His 1997 critical success 'The Sweet Hereafter' is about as human as film gets. The visual construction of this film is a conclusive predecessor to the fragmented story-telling further sensationalized by the likes of Alejandro Gonzales Innaritu this decade with heartfelt, soul-linked films like 'Babel' and 'Amores Perros', and further bastardized by the likes of Paul Haggis' elementary view of racism with 2005's 'Crash'.

Fragmentation and character-link are healthily suspenseful narratives, yet lose luster if its sole purpose is just to discreetly unfold more clues for the sake of catering to the audience instead of granting separate character perspectives, which is where this year's 'The Burning Plain' (written and directed by Guillermo Arriaga - who authored the screenplays for 'Babel' and 'Amores Perros', coincidentally enough) fell flat.

Atom Egoyan retains sincerity in his scrambling - unfolding a story of a school bus accident and how it effects a small rural community through an out-of-town lawyer ( troubled by the miscommunication between him and his runaway, druggie daughter who only contacts him via Collect calls when she's hard-up for cash) meeting and conversing with each parent who lost a child during the accident in hopes of convincing them to file a suit against the State or the school bus manufacturer for any possible negligence leading to the deaths.

Mitchell, the lawyer, demands only one-third of the total settlement - though his endeavors aren't solely on monetary basis, as a large part of his soul lies in finding exterior justice in hopes of finding solace from the loss of his own daughter.

Stunningly complex in story, adapted from a best-selling Russell Banks novel, the film explores the combustion of small-town / big-city integration, as this lawyer's presence leads to an unveiling of hidden secrets and accusations, turning one against another.

The performances are remote and emotionally distant, as if you could call this town "Twin Peaks" (mind you, the actual events which inspired the novel occurred in a small Texas town), yet we're given enough room with each character to develop a sincere love or hate relationship, as there are some who want money and some who just want their children back.

Somehow, Egoyan found a striking ability through emphasis to demand a dismembering emotional attention to the lawyer's situation with his lost daughter, who's physically still alive, yet geographically distant and is always failing - this may be the most depressing story of all, even when paired to the loss of several children.

This isn't inhumane, just through narrative emphasis. We're sequenced through a disturbing flashback, of when little Zoe was first born, bit by a black widow spider and suffering an increase of asphyxiation, where Mitchell is faced through desperate measures of possibly having to make an acute incision into his own daughter's throat for breathing room - as the camera menacingly stares into Zoe's innocent, infant eyes, right beside a small pocket knife in his father's hand, and the tormenting dilemma of fatherhood captured on film; This was one of the most devastating sequences ever filmed, and it's what gave allowance to Mitchell's character as more than just "a lawyer fishing for money".

'The Sweet Hereafter' may be one of the finest American films I've ever lent time to.