Rating: 
Summary: Secrets and Lies
Review: This quiet, subtle and gripping movie is an impressive work about death, grief, change, secrets and communities, a strong, moving and complex cinematic experience. Director Atom Egoyan handles a difficult subject and knows how to develop an interesting and thought-provocking approach. The basic story is about the aftermath of a school bus accident that led to the death of 14 children. An attourney (Ian Holm) then tries to find out who was the responsible for such dramatic and unfortunate incident, looking for clear answers but failing to achieve them.
Was it really just an accident? Why did it happen? Was it that surprising and unexpected? These are some of the questions that the lawyer tries to find answers to, so he starts looking for them in the little, calm and peaceful canadian village where the disaster happened. As the lawyer`s quest unfolds, Egoyan shows us his motivations, giving a glipse about his relationship with his drug-addicted daughter that he is unable to help.
"The Sweet Hereafter" is a powerful story about loss and frustration in a world where parents can`t seem to help their children, dreams start to fade and hope is destroyed. But it`s also a story told in a realistic and credible way, avoiding easy melodramatic devices and dramatic overacting. Egoyan doesn`t offer a tearjerker session here, given that his approach is subtle, letting hope and reconstruction unfold. The storytelling techniques are unique, given that the plot development isn`t linear and mixes three different timeframes that are related and co-dependent. The movie also presents an ethereal, hypnotic and dream-like atmosphere, creating a particular and unique feel, although it never loses its realistic elements. The acting is overall convincing, especially Sarah Polley as the enigmatic young girl. "The Sweet Hereafter" is not always an easy film to watch, as some of its plot points offer some ambiguity and uneasy answers. The characters are more than what they first seem, and Egoyan wisely covers a wide range of emotions without following a predictable and standart perspective. This is a slow, engrossing and captivating piece of cinema, one that makes the viewer feel, think and question, way above many formulaic fast-food flicks out there.
A remarkable achievement.
Rating: 
Summary: A Genuine Look of Life after Tragedy
Review: The "Sweet Hereafter" is an honest, realistic movie that deals in a subtle way, with strong emotions like anger and grief, and at the end manages to give a glimpse of hope. It tells the story of a small town in Canada that suffers a tragic bus accident, losing most of its children and as a result, losing much of its happiness and joy. A lawyer, who in a way, has lost his own daughter too, is visiting the town. He tries to persuade the victims' parents, to join in a class action lawsuit. Through his visit, we gradually learn about the people's lonely and sad lives before and after the accident. We also realize how this case is just the outlet of the anger the lawyer feels about his own life. The film is really depressing, but it achieves in that you never feel manipulated. Its director, Atom Egoyan, helped by a superb script, never goes for the easy tears and cheap emotions. As for the cast, Ian Holm, portraying the lawyer, and Sarah Polley (also starring in "Go!"), who plays a survivor of the accident, stand out. Holm is a revelation in a monologue, describing the incident when his daughter almost died of a spider bite. Polley uses her expressive face and eyes extensively, to reveal all her troubled emotions. Other high points of the film include the excellent music score which follows faithfully the atmosphere, the photography, with the images of the surrounding frozen mountains, providing a successful parallelism with the parents' tortured psyches, and the use of Robert Browning's poem "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" as a powerful metaphor.
Rating: 
Summary: I loved it.
Review: I love yellow school buses. The cheap plastic seats that your legs would stick to on the way to summer camp on a hot July morning. The strange boozy smelling drivers with crushed mesh-backed ball caps. And who could forget the sing-songs that drove all of the adults on board crazy? Yellow buses are cool. As far as I can tell this Canuck bore-fest is about a yellow school bus. A big, bright yellow school bus. I guess that's what I liked about it. Thank you Mr Egoyan. You are the smartest Canadian person working in film.
Rating:
Summary: A Spare Gem
Review: Atom Egoyan has the clearest eye of any director I have ever seen. Watching his masterpiece "The Sweet Hereafter", 1997's critical darling, is like eavesdropping on the tragic, but REAL, lives of real people. It takes the end credits to remind you you are watching a movie. Ian Holm plays Mitchell Stephens, a well-to-do lawyer drowning in despair as he witnesses his daughter succumb to drugs. When a bus accident occurs in a small Canadian town, killing several children, Stephens travels there, offering his help to the families in suing the bus manufacturer. Sarah Polley plays Nicole, a clear-voiced, sweet-natured girl who becomes paralyzed after surviving the accident. These two actors are breathtaking. Their performances are simple and graceful; you don't get a sense of acting at all. Polley contributed several songs to the soundtrack and her voice can be heard, hauntingly sweet, in the background in many scenes, a reminder of the innocence and loss playing out on screen. Enveloped in the spare Canadian winter landscape, each breath the actors take can be seen and heard. Emotions are not expressed in words so much as in expressions and eyes. The pacing is slow, yes, but it is almost as though time has stopped for these grieving people and they exist in a universe all its own, so the slowness feels appropriate. The isolation is palpable. Watch for an exquisite scene where Holm finds himself sitting next to his daughter's old best friend on an airplane. It is one of the best I have ever seen. "The Sweet Hereafter" is real. Therefore, it is not always easy to watch.
Rating:
Summary: I loved this as much as all the other on-line critics
Review: What can I add to this love fest except that you are all correct. If this isn't the best movie ever made it is certainly in the top ten. The acting, the script the wonderful images blend to make this a visual and emotional treat. Don't be put off by the depressing subject matter (dead children) this is a movie that celabrates life. It is a must have in ones collection of films they will want to see over and over agian. Footnote: Get the soundtrack too! Sarah Polley sings 5 songs on it. What a talent! I wrote to Roger Ebert and asked him why he had not included Ms. Polley in his list of up and comeing actresses, he responded and asked who I would have left off the list. I don't know but Sarah is going places in film. She is one of many bright shining moments in a nearly perfect film. I wonder how the director will possibly follow this. "Lost Johnny"
Rating: 
Summary: Not exactly akin to the novel
Review: _The Sweet Hereafter_ by Russell Banks and _The Sweet Hereafter_ directed by Ian Holm are somewhat akin, save for the final chapter of the book.
A town experiences intense tragedy. Whose to blame?
Mr Banks chose to end his novel showing the strength of a town and it's ability to forgive. This to me seems crucial to the entire work.
The movie lacks this part; and though indepedent of the novel, the movie is still good, I feel that after reading the novel, the movie lacks a general closure.
Rating:
Summary: A challenging, rewarding and profound movie
Review: Atom Egoyan, who has something of a reputation as a quirky director, has fashioned an adaptation of the complex Russell Banks novel that is at once challenging yet accessible. The basic plot revolves around a town that has suffered an unbearable tragedy - a school bus accident that has claimed children's lives - and how the parents and survivors have to pick up the pieces and carry on. Riding into town to "assist" them is a lawyer (Ian Holm in a tremendous role) who feels they should be "compensated" for their losses. In some hands, this would be a standard John Grisham "Rainmaker" type movie with the good lawyer triumphing over the bad corporations but Egoyan throws us curve after curve in both the narrative and the moral sense. The plot unfolds in a non-linear sense as we float back and forth in time to see what people were and have become because of the tragedy. On top of that, the lawyer must deal with his personal baggage in dealing with his drug-addled daughter's demands on him from long distance. As the story and the characters unfold, we're presented with ideas and issues that leave us with no easy answers yet give us a sense of redemption and even hope. One idea inherent in the movie is that even though none of us is beyond reproach, we still can find peace and acceptance for those things which we may feel are beyond our control. It is a troubling movie at times, but it is also life-affirming and even profound in what it says about not just how we deal with tragedy but also in how we deal with our day to day existence. If you're looking for a movie that has the power to stay with you long after it's over, you'll find it in this one. For those looking for intelligent entertainment, it's not to be missed.
Rating:
Summary: movie good; book a thousand times better
Review: the commentary by russell banks made the movie more interesting and enjoyable. from the sound of the dvd, the director will be patting himself on the back well into his sweet hereafter.
Rating:
Summary: A Film to Ponder, but Far from Ponderous
Review: I can't fathom anyone watching this movie through without being deeply moved, at times disturbed, and shaken to some degree. It really does delve down into the dark night of the soul, like the cinematic equivalent of a Sylvia Plath poem. It's a film about loss. Innocence lost, the questionability of ideals and motives. The end of childhood. Yet Egoyan doesn't deliver a totally bleak jeremiad here, either. Human beings are flawed, but they also are capable of growth and wisdom, though both are hard earned. As usual with Egoyan films, nature is at a distance and a remove from human beings and the turmoil brimming over inside them. The beautiful BC vistas are in contrast to the tragic event that occurs. It's a bit like the end of Moby Dick, when the Pequod is smashed and sinks, while the sun smiles down serenely on the calm sea. I think Egoyan's getting at the same thing Melville is, as well. It's an existentialist's way of looking at the universe. If we're looking for a higher power to bail us out, we're out of luck. Our other moral constructs are pretty shaky, as well. We tend to think a little better of ourselves than is often the case. As is also usual, Egoyan assembles an excellent cast, that feed off of each other's honest performances. No wrong notes here. Cinematography also up to the usual high standard. My appreciation for Egoyan's work increases with each new film I see. Personal thanks to the reviewer who led me to the works of this auteur director, in the best sense of that term. BEK
Rating:
Summary: A Great DVD For a Great Movie
Review: The Sweet Hereafter is my all-time favorite film. No film has ever touched me or gotten under my skin more than this one. Egoyan creates a truly hypnotic piece of work that wraps itself around your brain and makes you see tragedy in a different way(actually in 4 different ways.) 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.
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