The Sweet Hereafter
[DVD Info]

Essentially this movie is about a lawyer named Mitchel Stevens (Ian Holm) who is hired by a family to investigate and sue someone (anyone) who is responsible for the tragic bus accident that killed 15 children. There's a little side story about his own relationship with his daughter (who is addicted to some sort of drug) and how it reflects what's going on in this town where he's investigating. Nicole (Sarah Polley) is a young girl who gets paralyzed by the accident (and is molested by her father). The whole story follows the story of the Pied Piper (the lawyer being the piper and the townspeople being well...the townspeople, and Sara being the "lame" child who can't play with the others...and who saves the people from the piper…even though…he didn’t seem to be doing anything bad).

Sounds like he's more of a witch doctor than a lawyer...maybe they're the same thing. ~Billy Ansell.

They never really explain what happened with the accident! When Sara testifies in the end she lies about what happens...so you never really know how the accident occurs or anything. And Billy was so against testifying and he's the one who knows what really happened... Everyone in this town was so shifty. I didn't understand it...

You really don't get to know about anyone in this town. They're all shifty and all have their lies going on. The only person you come to care about is the lawyer, who seems to be honestly trying to help them out and his daughter is a horrible person. The ending is open ended, but it seems the town is happy not knowing what really happened to the children. However, it's an interesting film and it shows you the different ways people deal with grief and whatnot. Because of this, the jury gives this flick:

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