A delicate and touching story.
The Sweet Hereafter
There is no such thing as the simple truth.
1997 · 1h 52m · R
Drama
Directed by
Atom Egoyan
Overview
A small mountain community in Canada is devastated when a school bus accident leaves more than a dozen of its children dead. A big-city lawyer arrives to help the survivors' and victims' families prepare a class-action suit, but his efforts only seem to push the townspeople further apart. At the same time, one teenage survivor of the accident has to reckon with the loss of innocence brought about by a different kind of damage.
Director and cast
Critics on Rotten Tomatoes
Top critics, in their words
Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan's most ambitious work to date, The Sweet Hereafter is a rich, complex meditation on the impact of a terrible tragedy on a small town.
Though this is Egoyan's first adaptation, The Sweet Hereafter could serve as a model for how to do it right.
Audience is almost bound to be absorbed for the duration.
In a season of expertly adapted contemporary fiction (like "L.A. Confidential" and "The Ice Storm"), this fusion of Banks's and Egoyan's sensibilities stands as a particularly inspired mix.
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