The Sweet Hereafter is an amazing beautiful, but shocking movie. The impact will stay with you for sometime.Mitchell Stevens is a lawyer who comes to a town that met with a disaster. Almost all kids were killed in a school bus accident. He goes to each family to file a law suit against whoever responsible for the tragedy. The families believe it was an accident, while he try to convince them there is nothing called an accident.The nonlinear narrative may be confusing for some audience. In that case, please do watch it a second time. Once you can solve that part, you will get a very shocking movie.Beautifully and carefully made movie got 2 Oscar nominations. The movie is little slow and confusing, but a definitely must watch.Highly recommended.#KiduMovie

The Sweet Hereafter is 1997 Canadian drama movie based on a novel by Russell Banks of the same name. The screen play is written and directed by critically acclaimed director Atom Egoyon . The Film stars Ian Holm, Sarah Polly, Bruce Greenwood, AlbertaWatson, Simon Baker, Marc Donato, Broke Johnson, Maury Chaykin, Stephanie Morgenstern, Carthain Banks, Tom MeCamus, Russell Banks (cameo) and Gabrielle Rose. The Sweet Hereafter tells the story of a horrible school bus crashing accident that killed numerous local children. Their shattered and grieving parents are approached by a lawyer Mitchell Stevens (Ian Holm) who is hunted by the problems of his own, he wants them to file a class action lawsuit to sue for the damages by claiming the bus was faulty. Some of the parents at first are unwilling but they are persuaded by Mitchel Stevens that suing for damages is the right thing to do, some parents shows interest only because of the big settlement and some parents just want justice to be done.As most of the children are dead the case mainly depends only on 3 people that witnessed the accident, the bus driver Dolores Driscoll (Gabrielle Rose), Nicole Burnell (Sarah Polly) who was sitting at the front of the bus and who is now paralyzed below the waist because of the bus crashing accident and Billy (Bruce Greenwood) who was following the bus. Dolores Driscoll is willing to help to prove it wasn't her fault, Nicole Burnell is reluctant at first but agrees to help only on a condition that she wouldn't lie but Billy who lost 2 kids in the accident is against the lawsuit and tries to convince other parents to drop the lawsuit but nobody listens to him and tells him to stay out of it. In the pretrial deposition, Nicole Burnell lies and accuses the bus driver Dolores Driscoll of over speeding and thus causing the accident. After doing so all the hopes of suing the bus company with the possibility of big settlement disappears. The intention behind Nicole's lie is to punish her father who was sexually abusing her before the crash. Everybody that suffered from the accident or those who are involved in the case knows that Nicole is lying but nothing can be done and the trial never takes place.The story of the movie unfolds in non chronological order it jumps back and forth from one plot to another many times and loses the momentum. At first it was OK but after a while it was hard to watch because it never focused on the main story. In start we are introduced to several characters and each character has a story of its own. There are many different events besides the crash, which distracts the attention from the main plot. Mitchell Stevens daughter Zoe is a drug addict and she hates her father but its never explained what she hates him for also by the end of the movie Zoe tests positive for a blood test and its not explained what the test was for aids, pregnancy or something else. Also Zoe at first is shown as a homeless druggie but by the end she is well dressed. Billy has an affair with Risa (Alberta Watson) who is married to Windol (Maury Chaykin) but its never told why Risa is cheating on Windol or why can't she just leave him if she doesn't love him. Billy has also lost 2 kids in the accident but he is against the lawsuit because he knows it was just an accident and according to him it's wrong to sue for the damages but isn't it wrong to have an affair with a married woman? In the start of the movie its shown that Nicole loves her father (Sam MeCamus) and that they have a nice father daughter relationship but halfway its shown that Nicole is sexually abused by her father and by the end of the movie its shown that she hates him and therefor in order to punish him she lies and accuses an innocent person for the bus crash. Dolores Driscoll is held responsible for the accident because of over speeding but at the end of the movie she is back to driving some kind of airport passenger bus, how can she be hired just after two years for driving again when she is held responsible for the bus crash. Even the movie poster is taken from a scene that has nothing to do with the main plot of the movie.Ian Holm as Mitchel Stevens is a bit over dramatic at times but overall he plays the character nicely. Sarah Polly as Nicole Burnell does justice to her character and changes her facial expressions from a sweet to a serious bitter teen. Bruce Greenwood as Billy is convening, apart from Ion Holm, Sarah Polly and Bruce Greenwood all other actors are flat and plain and no one seems to be convincing enough in their respective characters.Atom Egoyon screenplay is too weak and confusing, he fails in directing The Sweet hereafter, he doesn't uses the right tone and right timing to introduce the characters and unfolds the story in non chronological order which only confuses the audience with all those subplots, The only good thing about his directing is choosing the beautiful locations for shoot. Cinematography is beautifully done by Paul Sarossy.Almost all of the main characters have a story, which is never explained, their personal stories are never given the depth they needed. I hardly see any place for those untold personal stories in the movie but they are introduced which drags the attention from the main plot and half way through the movie I didn't care for the accident and just wanted the movie to finish.

After an attentive viewing session,most attentive viewers would not fail at all to notice that the most recognizable feature of "The Sweet Hereafter" is its candid portrayal of selfishness. It is precisely this feeling which helps us to understand how some selfish individuals want to derive advantage from other people's suffering.This has been depicted through British actor Ian Holm whose extraordinary performance suggests that selfish people are always armed with their own ingenious explanations about their acts which in the long run bring them their fair share of misery instead of happiness.Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan whose film is an adaptation of a best selling work by Russell Banks is hardly partial when it comes to describe how ordinary people deal with guilt especially when it concerns untimely death of loved ones.No viewer would like to side with the film's characters who are full of idiosyncrasies as nobody is innocent.It is no wonder that good photography and natural setting enhance this film's viewing experience for viewers at a time when its slow pace acts as a veritable spoilsport. Finally,The Sweet Hereafter is a film to be watched at all costs if you have not seen a film which has been praised excessively.

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!