The Sweet Hereafter is as tragic, sad and matter-of-fact as movies get, but The story makes no secret of the fact what terrible tragedy will happen, right from the outset. A lesser filmmaker than Atom Egoyan would've jumped town of Sam Dent of nearly all their children, by telling the story in a linear fashion. Not Egoyan.
The story is fragmented, thus enhancing the true point: This is not about the overwhelming power of loss, it is about the poem The Pied Piper Of Hamelin, which is referred to in the movie). It's all about people who grieve not only for the ones they've lost, but also for themselves, how empty their lives have become because of their tragedies. In focussing on that point, the film refrains from manipulative sentiment (which so many others don't), and presents true and unintrusive emotion, that, in the end, despite all the terror, shines a light of hope, for the sweet hereafter is not only the peaceful afterlife, it's also the peaceful future, the continuation of life.
.. The performances speak for themselves.
Ian Holm and Sarah Polley shine in particular, through nicely subdued and subtle acting. Polley also excels as a fantastic singer-songwriter.
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