The Sweet Hereafter

The Sweet Hereafter is a novel (1991) written by U.S. author Russell Banks; and an award-winning film (1997) by Canadian director Atom Egoyan, who also wrote the screenplay.

Related Topics:
Novel - 1991 - Russell Banks - Film - 1997 - Canadian - Atom Egoyan - Screenplay

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Cast:

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• Ian Holm - Mitchell Stephens (lawyer)
• Sarah Polley - Nichole Burnell (victim)
• Tom McCamus - Sam Burnell (father)
• Alberta Watson - Risa Walker (parent)
• Bruce Greenwood - Billy Ansel (parent)
• Gabrielle Rose - Dolores Driscoll (bus driver)
• Arsinée Khanjian - Wanda Otto (parent)
• Mychael Danna - Live band harmonium player (uncredited)

Banks's novel is a multiple first person narrative depicting life in a small town in upstate New York in the wake of a terrible school bus accident in which numerous local children are killed. Hardly able to cope with the loss, their grieving parents are approached by a slick city lawyer who wants them to sue for damages. At first the parents are reluctant to do so, but eventually they are persuaded by the lawyer that filing a class action lawsuit would ease their minds and also be the right thing to do.

Related Topics:
New York - School bus - Lawyer - Damages - Class action - Lawsuit

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As most of the children are dead, the case now depends on the few surviving witnesses to say the right things in court. In particular, it is 15 year-old Nichole Burnell, who was sitting at the front of the bus and is now paralysed from the waist down, whose deposition is all-important. However, she unexpectedly accuses Dolores Driscoll, the driver, of speeding and thus causing the accident. When she does so, all hopes of ever receiving money are thwarted. All the people involved know that Nichole is lying but cannot do anything about it. Only her father knows why, but he is unable to publicly reveal his daughter's motives.

Related Topics:
Paralysed - Deposition

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Both the novel and the film are about capturing the atmosphere in a small town suddenly shaken by catastrophe. Fathers take to drinking, secret affairs are abruptly ended, whole families move away. Only the reader/viewer knows that Mitchell Stephens, the lawyer, is himself a troubled man who has effectively lost his own child—his estranged, drug-addicted daughter informs him over the phone that she has just tested HIV positive.

Related Topics:
Drinking - HIV

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The Sweet Hereafter: Themes in the book and movie ►