Rating: 
Summary: Forever on my mind?
Review: I rented and viewed this film three days ago, and haven't stopped thinking about it since. The principle characters resemble in many ways people we all know. That's part of it. And the music is so appropriate for the mood and tone that I could scream. The film is also well acted by the entire cast, a rarity. My only critism is that there are a few key connections and metaphors vital to the theme which don't quite get across. Perhaps the movie can't possible reveal all, and leaves you to think about not only what you have seen and felt, but about what the connections and answers may be. Which is ultimately a more challenging, albeit satisfying, process for the viewer.
Rating:
Summary: The best movie I have yet seen.
Review: Deep, understated, and true characterizations, and actors that understand what those people are thinking when they aren't saying anything. A beautiful, haunting movie that lacks any flashy strokes -- and good riddance. Excellent soundtrack, if you listen to it carefully. Holm in the best performance I've ever seen. A truly challenging movie. It devastates me that the Oscars barely noticed Atom Egoyan's (Director, Writer, etc) work (one nomination -- got 8% approval), but on the other hand -- they missed Citizen Kane, too. END
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST MOVIE EVER MADE!!!!!
Review: This IS the most impressive movie I've ever had the pleasure of watching! As far as I'm concerned, Atom Egoyan was robbed by another Canadian for best Director (James Cameron for "Titanic"!) Was also nominated for adapted Screenplay but lost but lost to "LA Confidential" which was good, But not THIS good! So, if you ever see one movie in your entire life, see this one because everything else simply pales in comparision END
Rating:
Summary: BEST MOVIE EVER!!!!!!!!!!
Review: Should you ever be in the market for one of the best drama's of all time, then do not let another heart beat slip by before you see this film. It is a story about people. The people depicted by this masterpiece are the kind one meets every day. Do yourself, and everybody else, a favour by looking at those everyday people differently and seeing this film. END
Rating:
Summary: Gripping, real, thought-provoking
Review: What a terrific sleeper! If you've wearied of cartoon-style action movies, or enjoy human drama under extreme circumstances, this movie should seem like a refreshing drink of water in a desert of artistic entertainment.A big-city lawyer travels to a small town to recruit the parents of children killed in a horrific bus accident to his class action suit against the bus company. The movie explores the human element (not the legal element) as the parents respond to the tragedy, and explores a fascinating parallel between the demolished society of the town and the ruins of the lawyer's personal life. I found the movie to be deeply affecting. END END
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST FILM OF THE 90'S, NO ARGUMENT
Review: "The Sweet Hereafter," a miraculous adaptation of an oddly structured but brilliant book by Russel Banks, is one of the most lovely, unforgettable movies of the 90's. Egoyan incorporates the music of the Tragically Hip (performed both by them, and hauntingly by the film's star Sarah Polley), barren winter imagery, deeply layered characters, and a non-linear story line all to great effect. Probably the most effective scenes in the movie are the times when the landscape is still and the characters just sit. There is the haunting feedback of a discarded guitar, the silent play between Ian Holm and Sarah Polley in their few scenes together, the moment in which the doomed school bus at the story's center hovers tenuously on the ice...Everything has the effect of passing the viewer into a world at once bleak and hopeful, beautiful and disturbing. The ideas behind the film go deeper than just grief and loss, often so deep that they cannot be fully articulated even far down in the viewers soul. It just sits there like a weight on the heart for weeks after viewing and never lets the viewer escape its haunting grip. Sarah Polley and Ian Holm give standout performances, Atom Egoyan confirms the genious sugested at in "Exotica," and the score is a must-have for any music fan. I couldn't recommend the film any more strongly. It is the best film of the 90's.
Rating:
Summary: Atom Egoyan's beautiful tragedy! Masterful filmmaking!
Review: What can I say about "The Sweet Hereafter"? Well, without hyperbole, Canadian director Atom Egoyan has basically turned Russel Banks popular novel into one of the most touching and masterfully-crafted films ever made! This is the story of smalltown tragedy in British Columbia. Fourteen schoolchildren are killed in a freak school bus accident, and their families, friends, and neighbors, each devestated in their own way, tries to carry on with their lives. A manipulative laywer (played with stark intensity by Ian Holm) comes to the town to try to organize a class action lawsuit, but the lawyer is carrying some emotional baggage of his own, and Egoyan creates some beautiful plot "counterpoint" by weaving the townpeople's and the lawyers tragedies together. Egoyan takes what COULD have been fodder for another melodramatic Hollywood tearjerker, and turns it into a film of great depth and substance. Egoyan has a wonderfully lyrical sense of film composition, and he masterfully intermixes scenes from the present, with flashbacks to the past, and slowly unviels the the complex lives of his characters (including some even deeper tragedies than the bus accident!) Ever the innovator, Egoyan even manages to blend spoken poetry into the story, as Robert Browning's "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" is used as a powerfully symbolic conterpoint to the story we are seeing on screen. The whole cast is quite excellent, but young Canadian actress Sarah Polley (as the pivotal character of Nicole, a would-be rock singer and survivor of the bus crash) just about steals the show! I won't give away one of the film's most surprising plot-points (although some Amazon reviewers have already let the cat out of the bag), but I will just say that Polley's dazed facial expression near the end of the story is a beatiful piece of acting...and speaks volumes more than any big, convoluted Hollywood "comeuppance" scene could ever achieve! "The Sweet Hereafter" is a film that should not be missed by any film buff! I have seen this film at least five times now and I can attest that it only gets better with repeated vieweings, there is simply too much going on underneath the surface of the story to absorb all of it's issues on the first glance. This very "human" film is the complete antithesis of everything that is wrong with the current Hollywood scene, and with this emotionally gripping film, Atom Egoyan has cemented his place among the world's finest filmmakers!
Rating: 
Summary: Another Egoyan masterpiece!
Review: The Sweet Hereafter is more a work of art than a film, and that in itself will put off some people. Its a slow moving, dreary, and depressing motion picture, full of real people, real struggles, and real dialogue. It's a profound experience that moves like a dream, slowly easing its way to an incomplete yet satisfying finale. Egoyan certainly knows how to work with his actors, as is evident by all the brilliant performances he has captured. This is a top-notch film, hard to love, and at the same time, very difficult to hate. Egoyan always has a way to make a challenging motion picture, allowing the audience to think and discuss long after the film is over. He continues to amaze me. This is one of those rare films that might move slowly, but is worth watching. It's a tough one to watch because of the subject matter (children dying in a school bus accident), but in the end, it is well worth it. Egoyan is a brilliant director and he is in top form here. Any fans of his other works who haven't seen this should definitely look for it. Everyone else should also give it a chance. They might enjoy it, or then again, they might hate me for recommending it. Either way, it's at least worth a look.
Rating:
Summary: Stays With You...
Review: This is one of those rare films which is at least equal to the novel's quality, even surpassing it in some respects. Subtle and moving, it is refreshing to watch a film that incoporates so much imagery and symbolism without beating the viewer over the head with a skillet. The commentary by Atom Egoyan and Russell Banks provided much insight into why the film had to be structured so differently than the book, and I highly recommend watching the special feature of Russell Banks reading excerpts from the novel.
Rating:
Summary: The Sweet Hereafter
Review: The Sweet Hereafter is an intelligent and artistic film. The film is superbly cast, mainly with talented but unknown actors (Ian Holm is the one big name). The settings and photography carry this film as much as the actors. This is a film where every glance and facial expression means something. The film is an adaptation of Russell Banks's novel of the same name. Egoyan has taken alot of artistic license and the film is better off for it. Both the book and the film tell the story of a town's collective grief arising from a tragic school bus accident which killed 14 children and maimed another. The film focuses on Mitchell Stephens, the personal injury attorney barely enduring his own grief and regret, who comes to the town to court clients for a multi-million dollar personal injury suit. The film is difficult to follow in a single viewing due to the rapid shifting of scenes and timeframes. It takes on more meaning with a second viewing. The film includes two recurring, very powerful scenes. The first is an encounter on an airplane between Mitchell Stephens and a childhood friend of Stephens' drug-addicted daughter which explains much of Stephens's pain, frustration and drive. The second is repeated shots of the survivor of the bus accident, the wheelchair-bound Nichole, with voiced-over readings of Robert Browning's Pied Piper of Hamlin. The expressionless reading of the poem conveys Nichole's sense of isolation and survivor's guilt in a way no amount of dialogue could. The poem's several themes line up with the movie's themes. It adds dimension and heartbreaking beauty to this film. The film is very well done and leaves lasting impressions. I highly recommend it.
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