The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

It left me speechless...
I had waited forever to watch this movie, and it was totally worth it. It was a sad drama that did seem to move slowly, but it was actually weavving a very intricate web. This is a movie I will be buying, the acting was great, these people seemed so real and their characters were well devloped. As a mother who has lost a child, it really hit close to home. Had there been a lawsuit, I would not want anything to do with it because every dollar I spent would feel like I was paying for it with his blood. It was so haunting and devastaing, but the young girl and the man who has lost his whole family gave me hope. I was glad that the girl who's father looked at her with lust, then as nothing, got her "revenge", while doing what was best for the town as well.

Loss, Pain and Survival
This fine 1997 film deals with loss, pain and survival within a small community after a devastating school bus accident in which a number of the town's children perish. Director Atom Egoyan paints in emotional and musical grays in this telling through flashbacks of the story around which the characters attempt to continue to live their lives. Even though we know from the outset that the accident happens, the event itself isn't shown until well into the film. It isn't sensationalized, and its simple, quick passing happens from a distance.

I've enjoyed Bruce Greenwood for many years, but I've never been moved my his performance until this viewing of this film. And Gabrielle Rose is marvelous as the heartbroken suriving bus driver, Doloris. Ian Holm plays an attorney you'd like to hate, but he's turned into a human being under his own pains. My girlfriend noted that young Sarah Polley ("Nicole") probably learned a few things from Egoyan prior to her own excellently directed film (AWay From Her, 2006) which Egoyan produced.

Loss, Pain and Survival
This fine 1997 film deals with loss, pain and survival within a small community after a devastating school bus accident in which a number of the town's children perish. Director Atom Egoyan paints in emotional and musical grays in this telling through flashbacks of the story around which the characters attempt to continue to live their lives. Even though we know from the outset that the accident happens, the event itself isn't shown until well into the film. It isn't sensationalized, and its simple, quick passing happens from a distance.

I've enjoyed Bruce Greenwood for many years, but I've never been moved my his performance until this viewing of this film. And Gabrielle Rose is marvelous as the heartbroken suriving bus driver, Doloris. Ian Holm plays an attorney you'd like to hate, but he's turned into a human being under his own pains. My girlfriend noted that young Sarah Polley ("Nicole") probably learned a few things from Egoyan prior to her own excellently directed film (AWay From Her, 2006) which Egoyan produced.