This post is a part of an ongoing project in which I watch one movie from a different country every other week.
PLOT: In a remote community in British Columbia, a school bus skids off the road and crashes through a frozen lake, killing fourteen children. As the town tries to recover, a lawyer approaches the grieving parents, encouraging them to file a class action lawsuit. However, there are secrets in this community he knows nothing about.
MEMORABLE MOMENT: Mitchell Stephens (Ian Holm), a lawyer representing families affected by the accident, tells of how he nearly lost his own daughter.
One morning Stephens and his wife woke to find their daughter, Zoe, swelling up. They were staying at a cabin forty miles from the nearest hospital. He managed to get a doctor on the phone who told him Zoe was most likely bitten by a baby black widow. There is nothing they can do for her but try to get her to the hospital. The doctor warns Stephens that if Zoe’s windpipe closes he may need to perform an emergency Tracheotomy. Stephens says he won’t be able to do this, and the doctor tells him he won’t have a choice.
Stephens’ wife drives while he holds his daughter in his lap, trying to keep her calm, so her heart rate won’t spread the poison. He stares at her beautiful face, singing to her while gripping the knife in one hand, preparing himself for what he might have to do.
IDEAL AUDIENCE: The Sweet Hereafter was included on Premier Magazine’s list of The 25 Most Dangerous Movies Ever Made alongside the likes of Natural Born Killers, Blue Velvet and Reservoir Dogs. The qualifications for these entries read:
“These are movies about which you could say, “That’s Not Entertainment.” They’re not “rides” or “diversions.” They are galvanizing experiences that place squarely in your face all the stuff Hollywood usually presumes you go to the movies to get away from. Films that rearrange your head, that challenge your bedrock ideas about life and love and the big sleep. Consciousness-expanders, in other words, but rarely in a pleasant way. Thank God for them.”
If these are the standards the list’s creators were going for, then I suggest they rethink Reservoir Dogs. As brutal as that film may be, Tarantino doubtlessly made it to be a “ride.”
That being said, The Sweet Hereafter undeniably fits this description. This movie is as realistic and stark as they come. There is little to no comic relief, no thrilling action sequences and no pat ending. It simply tells the story of a quiet community trying to recover from a sudden and meaningless tragedy. All the while the movie presents the theme that we all perpetually live on the edge of unavoidable disaster.
The Sweet Hereafter isn’t necessarily a work of entertainment, but it is hauntingly engaging. Because of my tight schedule I began it one evening thinking I would only watch the first half and would finish it the following night (I know, not ideal). However, I couldn’t turn away from the story. There is something about the bleak setting, the medieval styled music and the unimaginable tragedy that makes this film grippingly hypnotic. You watch this film the way you might watch a house burn down. It’s not entertaining but you can’t turn away.
We are used to Hollywood movies in which some disaster or other threatens to strike but the heroes come together to prevent it. The Sweet Hereafter isn’t a film about preventing tragedy, it’s a film in which the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen to these characters has already happened (including the lawyer) and we’re watching them pick up the pieces. There is nothing to prevent, there is simply the question of how they will move on. This is a situation most of us have been in. A loved one has died or we have lost a job and now we need to find a way to keep on surviving.
The film as a whole is so grounded there are times when it almost feels like a documentary. In fact the ideal audience might watch this movie for the same reason why many might watch some documentaries, to see how people might actually act in a real situation. This isn’t a movie to watch on a Friday night when you want to forget about your crappy job and the payments on your car/house. It’s a film for people who want to see how characters like themselves react after the worst day of their lives, how they will pick up the pieces and somehow keep on living.
DIRECTOR: Atom Egoyan
WRITER: Atom Egoyan
STARING: Ian Holm
