{"id":877,"date":"2008-06-08T21:49:02","date_gmt":"2008-06-09T01:49:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/?p=877"},"modified":"2023-08-08T11:12:19","modified_gmt":"2023-08-08T15:12:19","slug":"sweet-hereafter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/sweet-hereafter\/","title":{"rendered":"The Pied Piper takes a generation away in Atom Egoyan’s The Sweet Hereafter"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Lest the brevity of this post indicate otherwise, The Sweet Hereafter<\/em> is one of my favorite films. Although I’ve read the original novel by Russell Banks and seen Atom Egoyan’s film several times, I feel ill-equipped to “review” it. It is quietly heartbreaking and devastating, and difficult to capture in words.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Robert Browning’s tale The Pied Piper of Hamelin<\/em> runs through the film as a metaphor. A tragedy of the worst kind imaginable, the death of an entire generation of a small Canadian town’s children, reveals that everybody, everybody<\/em>, has demons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ian<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Lawyer Mitchell Stevens (Ian Holm) descends upon the town, claiming to be able to help the surviving families avenge their children’s deaths. His zeal convinces many of families to join a lawsuit, but his true attraction to this particular case is complex and personal, and it becomes clear he is possibly an even more tortured soul than any of his clients. His crusade only further pulls back the veil on the town’s deepest secrets, and it falls to the young survivor Nicole (Sarah Polley) to put an end to it all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One excellent scene that demonstrates the high level of filmmaking at work: when we finally see a flashback of the accident in question, parent Billy (Bruce Greenwood) watches in shock as an overturned school bus carrying his two children skids slowly to a stop atop a frozen lake, pauses for a heartbeat, then begins to crack through. The whole thing is filmed from a locked-down vantage point, at a distance, with muted sound design. Every element of the sequence shows astonishing restraint.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lest the brevity of this post indicate otherwise, The Sweet Hereafter is one of my favorite films. Although I’ve read the original novel by Russell Banks and seen Atom Egoyan’s film several times, I feel ill-equipped to “review” it. It is quietly heartbreaking and devastating, and difficult to capture in words. Robert Browning’s tale The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6320,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,2],"tags":[1098,480,1100,1099,915],"class_list":["post-877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-4-stars","category-movies","tag-atom-egoyan","tag-bruce-greenwood","tag-ian-holm","tag-russell-banks","tag-sarah-polley"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/06\/sweet-hereafter-family.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pa9lhB-e9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":130,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/lord-of-war\/","url_meta":{"origin":877,"position":0},"title":"Lord of War is a Nicolas Cage treasure hidden in plain sight","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 27, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"I initially dismissed Lord of War when the trailers and posters first appeared. In other words, it got caught in the crude mental filters that routinely handle my first-pass \"ignore\" of all the crap that flows through my eyes and ears all day every day. But when my regular email\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Lord of War","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/01\/lord-of-war-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":325,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/cache-hidden\/","url_meta":{"origin":877,"position":1},"title":"Sometimes we are the camera in Michael Haneke’s Cach\u00e9 (Hidden)","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"July 16, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"An art-thriller directed by Michael Haneke, of whose previous films I've only seen Le Pianiste (The Piano Teacher). A major theme is that of video image-making (a main character is a television host) and surveilance. The interest in video images brings to mind the films of Atom Egoyan (Calendar, Felicia's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "4 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"4 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/4-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Cach\u00c3\u00a9","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/cache-hidden-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/cache-hidden-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/cache-hidden-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/cache-hidden-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2006\/07\/cache-hidden-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":1446,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/sigur-ros-heima\/","url_meta":{"origin":877,"position":2},"title":"Sigur R\u00f3s Comes Home to Iceland in Heima","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"January 24, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Dean DeBlois' documentary film Heima (meaning \"coming home\" or \"at home\") follows the band Sigur R\u00f3s on their summer 2006 tour of their home country Iceland. The tour consisted of mostly free, unannounced concerts, and with the band in three basic configurations spanning the continuum of the purely acoustic to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "3 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"3 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/3-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Sigur R\u00c3\u00b3s Heima","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/sigur-ros-heima-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/sigur-ros-heima-feature.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/sigur-ros-heima-feature.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/sigur-ros-heima-feature.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/01\/sigur-ros-heima-feature.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":379,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-august-22-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":877,"position":3},"title":"The Dork Report for August 22, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"August 22, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"My head is spinning, counting all these Doctor Who spinoffs! Cancelled before it even began was Rose Tyler: Earth Defence, starring Billie Piper. The other three are still in motion: definitely Torchwood and maybe K-9 Adventures and Sarah Jane Investigates. Time Magazine's 50 Coolest Websites for 2006 (and Top 25\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":5743,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-smothers-all-hope-and-wonder\/","url_meta":{"origin":877,"position":4},"title":"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker smothers all hope and wonder","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"December 21, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"My brilliant wife had the following absolutely perfect appraisal of the first two entries in the new Star Wars trilogy, which I will paraphrase here: \"Most of the criticism of The Force Awakens was absolutely correct, but I loved it anyway. Most of the criticism of The Last Jedi was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2 Stars"","block_context":{"text":"2 Stars","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/ratings\/2-stars\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"John Boyega, Daisy Ridley, and Oscar Isaac in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/star-wars-rise-of-skywalker.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":280,"url":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/the-dork-report-for-june-17-2006\/","url_meta":{"origin":877,"position":5},"title":"The Dork Report for June 17, 2006","author":"Chad Ossman","date":"June 17, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Just as Apple is rumored to be launching yet another iPod generation (no longer online: appleinsider.com\/article.php?id=1818), Microsoft readies its iTunes Killer [no longer online: wired.com\/news\/technology\/0,71178-0.html]. Hey, wasn't that called Urge (no longer online: urge.com)? (spotted on Macintouch and AppleInsider) Actual photos from inside a Chinese iPod factory make me feel\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "The Dork Report"","block_context":{"text":"The Dork Report","link":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/category\/dork-report\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Dork Report","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/dork-report.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=877"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8724,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/877\/revisions\/8724"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chadossman.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}