| Field | Details |
|---|---|
| Movie Name | THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997) |
| Director | Atom Egoyan |
| Writer | Russell Banks, Atom Egoyan |
| Lead Actor | Ian Holm |
| Cast | Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Caerthan Banks |
| Genre | Drama |
| Release Date | November 21, 1997 (United States) |
| Duration | 1h 52m(112 min) |
| Budget | $5 million |
| Language | English |
| IMDB Rating | 7.4/10 |
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THE SWEET HEREAFTER
This independent, much-praised film focuses on the tragedy of children in a small Canadian town who are killed when a school bus crashes. A stranger who is a big-city lawyer arrives, going from home to home, trying to persuade reluctant parents to join in a lawsuit to make sure someone, preferably with deep pockets like the bus manufacturer, is held responsible.
Toronto-based director Atom Egoyan avoids most of the emotions even your average TV news show would exploit. While this is a town that has suddenly lost its children (the Pied Piper story is a frequent symbolic reference), this is not a film about anger at God or fate or the “system.” It’s not the film we expect.
Egoyan instead directs our attention to what’s going on with the adult characters in this town besides their grief. We find out why the lawyer, beautifully played by veteran Ian Holm, cares so much.
He wants sympathetic witnesses, but many of the parents have flaws to hide. The only child survivor, Nicole (Sarah Polley), now paralyzed, has had an incestuous relationship. In a stunningly staged empty courtroom climax, Nicole decides the outcome of the case, while her father watches and hopes for a financial windfall. Strikingly shot in snowy British Columbia. Fresh and humane but challenging; satisfactory for mature viewers.
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