A slow burner that will leave you emotionally devastated by the time it ends. This reminded me a lot of Manchester by the sea. The small town, the accident, the grief. If you loved Manchester, you're surely going to love this. Or vice versa. I think. Maybe. Who knows.

Think Twin Peaks if you took away the surrealism and upped the super-tragic factor: it's not one young person but over 20 dead who die in a horrible bus accident on an icy road and leave a whole town scarred, with one man coming in to try and figure out what happened. Only in this case it's not the FBI, it's a lawyer, trying to file suit against the town for more damages as compensation for the parents. Considering the many characters and the various ways they feel throughout the film, an alternate title for the film could be called The Bitter Simmering Grief.This is one of those rare films where one scene, and a choice of a narration-device, mars for me what is otherwise an excellent drama, and generally one of the better films of 1997 (a year with many great films). But before I get to that, some praise for Ian Holm. My God is he phenomenal in this movie. He has to do, as this character of Mitchell Stevens, appealing to the anger and grief of these victims and channel that anger (more than the grief, if he can help it) to go along with him in the suit. At the same time this character is dealing with his daughter, addicted to drugs and spiraling out of control, and it's always in phone calls where he can barely speak to her in a rational way.One of the scenes that can shake you up as you watch this film involves Holm talking to his daughter on the phone (this after a nasty encounter with one of the locals, played by Bruce Greenwood, who doesn't want him in the town), and he finds out from her that she's HIV positive. This relies in part on a monologue he gives to an old friend of hers he meets on a plane as he tells a story involving when his daughter was near death from a spider bite in her throat and having to come close to doing what he had to for her. Just seeing him speaking this, and then this in mind as he finds out this news, the way that Egoyan shoots that scene with the wide shots of her on the phone at a booth, the close-ups on him, then in to her, with brief flashes to her as a baby... it's a gut-punch. And Holm sells it, every single second. It's a cliché to call something a powerhouse in a performance, but that's what he's giving here, and often in very subtle ways, sometimes with just a look or how he's listening to people, or subtly appealing to characters' emotions.Sarah Polly is also really terrific too as the teenager who was one of the only survivors (along with the driver) on the bus. My problem with the film doesn't come with her, but with a certain story choice that is made about a third to maybe mid-way through the film - it's difficult to spoil it, but it involves a scene that seems to me just dropped right into the thick of things, and it doesn't have very much lead up for these characters. While it does ultimately pay off in the climax of the story, it is still a jarring move; even at 112 minutes long, I wish the film had been longer to develop these characters and this conflict that is clearly there. It's meant to be accentuated by the narration of the Pied Piper, which Polly's character is reading to the children and then comes back up from time to time. It's too on-the-nose dramatically speaking, especially for a film that is loaded with enough drama and tragedy as it is.And yet I can't recommend the film enough, despite my caveats on a first viewing. The Sweet Hereafter, beautifully shot in snow-covered Canada, is meant to look on into that terrible moment when tragedy rocks not just one family but a whole town - and yet these people, individually, have to deal with the pains of losing their children in their own ways, with Stevens most of all as his daughter is dying, yet so far away from him, and yet there's also Greenwood's character, who is gruff and mustached and full of the sort of pain that he will keep inside of himself for the rest of his life. It's a near-masterpiece.

Excellently paced, disjointed editing for maximal effect. How greed can hinder our sense of community and morality. Excellent Ensemble cast. Sarah Polley is excellent as a survivor whose family hires a lawyer to represent her and other families wounded emotionally from an accident. The lawyer is tired of giving into his daughter's whims and fueling her addiction and wants to help her but thinks its futile while he is taking advantage of peoples emotions for gain. This movie makes you think about morality, community, integrity, loss and suffering. For serious filmgoers it is one not to miss. Theirugeiurgheirugheiurghieurhgieurhgieurhgieurghieruhgeiruhgeiru gheiurghieurhgieurhgiuehrgiuehriguehriguheriugheiruhguierhgieurhg uiehrgiuheriguheriugheirugheirugheiruhgeirughieurhgieurhgieurhgiu ehrguiehr

1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die is the book I found out about this film, it sounded like and I confirmed it as an independent film, the title obviously had some association with death, but I didn't know anything about the plot, so it would be interesting for me to try whatever. Basically a small town has been devastated by a tragic event; a school bus driven by Dolores Driscoll (Gabrielle Rose) and loaded with most of the children of the town attending the local school was driving during the snowy winter morning, when it suddenly hit an icy patch, it skids off road down the hill until it reaches the lake an crashes through the ice and sinks, drowning most victims inside. Many of the isolated village community members are mourning the deaths of their children, including Billy (Bruce Greenwood), the Walkers who lost their mentally developed and challenged son Sean (Devon Finn), and the Ottos who lost their aboriginal son Bear (Simon Baker) who was adopted. Some did survive the accident, including now wheelchair bound aspiring songstress Nicole Burnell (Sarah Polley), and Dolores, we see the accident in flashbacks while lawyer Mitchell Stevens (Sir Ian Holm) has arrived in the Canadian town wanting to take some slight advantage of the situation and get the parents of the twenty dead children to sue whatever party may be guilty for causing the incident, he will obviously represent those who agree to it. He plans to target the big companies and organisations with big amounts of money and who have some involvement with the school, most of the parents he see accept his proposal and see it as some way to get over the grieving, others are simply interested in the potential for the money, and some like Billy want nothing to do with a lawsuit. Stevens himself has demons as he suffered the death of his son and still feels grief, so he knows how the victims feel, but his son's death has also resulted in his daughter Zoe (Caerthan Banks) turning to drugs, losing respect for her father and any real relationship with him, and he knows life in the town has never been the same since this terrible event. Also starring Tom McCamus as Sam Burnell, Arsinée Khanjian as Wanda Otto, Alberta Watson as Risa Walker, Mousehunt's Maury Chaykin as Wendell Walker, Brooke Johnson as Mary Burnell, David Hemblen as Abbott Driscoll and Peter Donaldson as Schwartz. Holm gives a pretty good glum performance as the ambulance-chasing who is trying to earn but also help those in the same grief-stricken situation he is in, Greenwood gets a reasonably good amount of time on screen, and I agree that from what I remember Polley is exceptional as the survivor paralysed by the accident. I will confess that I drifted in some of the story, particularly the parts involving a lawsuit and what have you, but it was certainly interesting to see a story about how one truly tragic incident can change the dynamics and personalities of a whole town community, it has got the right amount of intensity and atmosphere to keep you watching, a worthwhile psychological drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Director for Atom Egoyan (Felicia's Journey) and Best Writing, Screenplay Based on Material Previously Produced or Published. Very good!