The Sweet Hereafter 1997

     This film is based on a novel by Russell Banks.  The inspiration for the book was a 1989 school bus crash in Alton, Texas.  Mitchell Stevens is having problems with his daughter Zoe but since she is a drug addict and he always has problems with her?  She calls him many times and the operator asks if Mitchell will accept the charges?  Mitchell is a lawyer and he’s headed to a small community of Dent, British Columbia where a school bus accident has occurred.  He’s hoping to sign up many of the townspeople for a class-action lawsuit he’s planning.  He wants to sue the town and the bus company for damages.  He believes there was negligence in constructing the barrier or there was a problem with the bus.  Most of the town’s children have been killed in a school bus accident.  The driver said she hit a patch of black ice, the bus went through the barrier and careened down the hillside into the river.  There are two sides of the lawsuit, those who are in favor and those opposed.  There is a twist at the end?

     This is a real downer of a film!!!  I didn’t know anything about this film and I was surprised about the bus accident and that the deaths of 14 children was the focus??  I didn’t have a clue how this was going to end?  I also didn’t know if the town and the bus company had done anything wrong causing the need for the lawsuit?  Was this just going to boil down to getting money?  Did anyone in the town have any spark in their lives before the accident?  Is Mitchell Stevens just an ambulance chaser plus does he just want and need a third of the award from the suit?  As you can see, there are a LOT of questions?  2 ½* (This movie is just so-so) 

  

112 min, Drama directed by Atom Egoyan with Ian Holm, Sarah Polley, Caerthan Banks, Tom McCamus, Gabrielle Rose, Alberta Watson, Maury Chaykin, Stephanie Morgenstern, Kirsten Kieferle, Arsinee Khanjian, Earl Pastko.  

Note:  Imdb 7.6 out of 10, 100% critic 86% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Roger Ebert 4*, Amazon 3.4* out of 5* with 165 reviews, TCM average user rating 5* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Stouffville and Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Spences Bridge and Merritt, British Columbia, Canada.  During the depositions given by the townspeople, the stenographer is wearing a mask.  It's used to record the stenographer’s voice during the note taking process. Originally, Donald Sutherland was cast as Mitchell Stephens but he to back out.  Caerthan Banks is the daughter of author Russell Banks.  Included among the 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die edited by Steven Schneider.  Listed by Roger Ebert as #2 of the Best Films of 1997.