The Sweet Hereafter

"The Sweet Hereafter" opens with twin tragedies. In a small Canadian town, a school bus accident has occurred which has left 14 children dead. Miles away, a lawyer who would become involved in the bus accident receives a phone call from his estranged daughter. She tells him she is dying. The lawyer's name is Mitchell Stephens (Ian Holm) and he tracks down the parents who lost children in the accident hoping to file a class action lawsuit against the bus company. Stephens is driven to represent the townspeople partly because that is what he does in life and partly to distract him from the situation with his daughter. The town becomes divided over whether to pursue the lawsuit. Eventually, everything comes down to the testimony of one of the accident's survivors. Her name is Nicole (Sarah Polley) and what she says ensures that there will be no winners.

Egoyan's film is as much a commentary on survivor's guilt as it is about the dark secrets a town can hold even though everything appears proper on the outside. It is a film about heartbreak and facades and how life can be so unfair. Yet, the film feels distant. While the various story arcs are well-defined and acted, I found it difficult to become immersed in the world I was watching. The film felt too muted and devoid of an emotional spark. While the hardships experienced by the characters in the film made for emotional drama, the film itself was less successful in generating strong emotional responses. The only instance where a truly-wrenching feeling swelled up in me was toward the end when the driver of the ill-fated bus is painfully reminded of the accident through a chance encounter.

It may be that an Atom Egoyan film is an acquired taste that I unfortunately have not developed. Yet, I will give credit where credit is due by saying that Ian Holm and Sarah Polley should have received more recognition for their star turns. Watching Polly in particular makes one wonder why she is not currently being offered more high-profile work. Her performance here and in Doug Liman's "Go" (1999) have been flawless. Here's hoping that Hollywood will see fit to make more productive use of her talents.

I was so glad that New Line decided to go all out on this one, which they don't seem to do often with "smaller" films but this one got the "Platinum Series" treatment.

The video discussion "Before and After The Sweet Hereafter" with Russell Banks, who wrote the novel that this film is based on and it's director, Atom Egoyan is espically interesting with in depth discussions of the film instead of being one of those boring little "promo" docs it actually discusses the film IN DEPTH! The readings from the novel are espically interesting.

I also really enjoyed the short Q&As with the actors on their characters, although they were a little TOO short in my opinion.

The best extra was including the Robert Browning poem, "The Pied Piper of Hamelin." Though I've never really been a fan of the poem,(I think it's seriously creepy, but the film uses it to great effect) it was so important to the film that it would be almost absurd not to include it.