The Sweet Hereafter (R) **** Starring Ian Holm, Sarah Polley Directed by Atom Egoyan A Review by Frankie Paiva
Has there ever been a film so spectacular and so wonderful that you have ever been afraid to write a review for it? A picture show with a story so fantastically woven into a great motion picture experience? If the slightest word could set off someone or do disrespect to the film? This is exactly the way I feel about The Sweet Hereafter which has just joined my Top 5 favorite films of all time.
Mitchell Stephens (Holm) is a lawyer who has gone to a snowy town where fourteen kids have died in a bus crash. He suggests that something was wrong with the bus, and wants to file a claims suit for the damages experienced by the families. He interviews various parents and victims of the crash including Nicole (Polley) who has been confined to a wheelchair.
But Mitchell soons finds these problems connecting to what's happening in his life with his troubled daughter. He learns certain lessons here that can help him towards bettering the life of his family. He also has to deal with people who are living in the past and cannot move on.
But it's not just the great screenplay (which was Oscar nominated) and the great characters that appear that make this film what it is. It's the way the film is shot. For some scenes, Egoyan fills the screen with people's mouth quivering as they talk to one another, and rather then letting the film start with the bus crash and have all of the conversations follow it, the film tells the story is a weird sort of way, flashing back between after the accident, before the accident, and the present day.
The film has robbed of all of the two Oscars it got nominated for. Where was the Best Picture nomination? Where were the Supporting Actress and Best Actor nods? Who cares about Titanic? I cried much more often in this than I did in that. You need to see this film now! This instant! Go! Go to Blockbuster and see The Sweet Hereafter which gets **** stars.
The Young-Uns: Brief frontal female nudity and some breasts are present as well as some mild language. Good Age: 14 & Up
A Review by Frankie Paiva The 12 Year-Old Movie Reviewer E-Mail me at SwpStke@aol.com Visit my website at: http://expage.com/page/teenagemoviecritic
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