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The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
21 November 1997 (USA) moreTagline:
There is no such thing as the simple truth.Plot:
This film documents the effects of a tragic bus accident on the population of a small town. full summary | add synopsisAwards:
Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 29 wins & 20 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(25 articles)
Adoration (From Scorecard Review. 29 May 2009, 12:05 AM, PDT)
Movie Review: Adoration
(From MovieRetriever. 22 May 2009, 7:09 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
Not for everyone, but this melancholy film stays with you long after its over... moreCast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Ian Holm | ... | Mitchell Stevens | |
| Caerthan Banks | ... | Zoe Stevens | |
| Sarah Polley | ... | Nicole Burnell | |
| Tom McCamus | ... | Sam Burnell | |
| Gabrielle Rose | ... | Dolores Discolt | |
| Alberta Watson | ... | Risa | |
| Maury Chaykin | ... | Wendell | |
| Stephanie Morgenstern | ... | Allison | |
| Kirsten Kieferle | ... | Stewardess | |
| Arsinée Khanjian | ... | Wanda | |
| Earl Pastko | ... | Hartley | |
| Simon Baker | ... | Bear | |
| David Hemblen | ... | Abbott | |
| Bruce Greenwood | ... | Billy | |
| Sarah Rosen Fruitman | ... | Jessica |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated R for sexuality and some language.Parents Guide:
Add content advisory for parentsRuntime:
112 minCountry:
CanadaLanguage:
EnglishColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreSound Mix:
Dolby DigitalCertification:
Hong Kong:IIB | Iceland:12 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Africa:13LS | New Zealand:M | USA:TV-MA (cable rating) | Argentina:16 | Australia:M | Brazil:16 | Canada:14A | Chile:18 | Germany:12 | Netherlands:16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:R(A) | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:16 | UK:15 | USA:RFun Stuff
Trivia:
As indicated on Atom Egoyan's commentary track on the DVD, many people ask about the odd mask worn by the note-taker during the deposition scene. This is a Stenographer's Mask, an item which is used in real-life for the stenographer to record her own voice during the deposition. moreGoofs:
Audio/visual unsynchronized: When Stephens visits the Ottos, and Mr. Otto offers him some tea, we hear a teakettle whistling but the one we see on the cooker is not the whistling type. moreQuotes:
Nicole: No matter what I'm asked I'lltell the truth.Mitchell Stephens: It's not going to be easy Nicole.
Nicole: I won't lie.
more
Movie Connections:
Featured in Weird Sex and Snowshoes: A Trek Through the Canadian Cinematic Psyche (2004) (TV) moreSoundtrack:
The Sweet Hereafter moreFAQ
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I re-watched The Sweet Hereafter on video last night, and am still haunted by it today. It is structured so that you know some of the basic tragic plot near the beginning. This caused my eyes to water at some of the beautiful lyrical overhead tracking shots of the school bus winding through the snow covered roads of the Pacific northwest.
The film switches between the time that the lawyer arrives in town to "help" the families receive compensation, and to days just prior to the accident. We witness a loving "hippie" couple who has adopted a beautiful Native American boy, a loving mother of a school phobic learning disabled boy, and a widower who loves his two children a great deal and sees them off to school by following them in his truck. This same widower is having an affair with the mother of the school phobic--she is unhappily married to a "pig" of a husband. Complicating matters is the father who obviously loves his teenage daughter in Lolita-like fashion.
Part of the theme of The Sweet Hereafter is similar to Magnolia--accidents do happen--perhaps no one at fault... or perhaps all the adults had some part in it without anyone being at fault, as only the innocent children were killed.
The town had changed... tragedy has taken away the town's joy and innocence. The parents are no longer open with each other, but guarded, suspicious... in deep grief.
The lawyer is little more than an ambulance chaser, attempting to profit off their tragedy. Yet, he, too is a tragic figure who has already "lost" his daughter--
He had saved her when she was a baby, yet she has now turned away from him... and his feelings are now ambivalent towards her--he is a grief-stricken, defeated father, who vascillates between wanting to talk with his daughter on his cell phone and deciding to cut her off.
The story of the Pied Piper is interweaved between various events in the movie to give greater depth to the story. There's also a great scene in the movie between the lawyer and the garage mechanic, who has lost his two children, that shows that the theme is much broader than the literal story:
"I'm telling you this because... we've all lost our children, Mr. Ansel. They're dead to us. They kill each other in the streets. They wander comatose in shopping malls. They're paralyzed in front of televisions. Something terrible has happened that's taken our children away. It's too late. They're gone."
This movie isn't for everyone. It's a serious, layered piece with a lot of melancholy. The kind of fare that film critics can love, but Academy voters will avoid. But what it strives to accomplish is done very well. And it will stay with you long after the final scenes have appeared.