Review of The Sweet Hereafter (1997) by Geoff G — 19 Jul 2007
This is one of the finest pieces of film making I have ever seen. Atom Egoyan has taken a novel by Russell Banks and turned it into a piece of brilliant film making.
The film is essentially a study of coping with grief and the relationships we form. The main plot involves a town dealing with the loss of most of its children in a school bus crash. Interwoven are various subthemes that deal with relationships between parents and their children.
This film won't be to everyone's taste. This is perhaps best illustrated by the shooting of the bus crash itself. We see it principally through the eyes of the father of two of the children. He had been following the bus and watches as it runs off the road. Rather than focus on events inside the bus, we see the impact in the father's eyes.
A challenging film - one that takes a complex subject and manages it with rare honesty instead of the emotional manipulation more common with films of tragedy.
This review of The Sweet Hereafter (1997) was written by Geoff G on 19 Jul 2007.
The Sweet Hereafter has generally received very positive reviews.
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