Canadian Film Forum

Grand_Shaman · Administrator Data inscrierii: 26/Oct/2007 Mesaje: 112

Anamaria, we're waiting for the questions you jotted down at the end of the screening of "The Sweet Hereafter"!

anamariaagostonsatumare · Trimis: 04/12/2010 16:15 Titlul subiectului: Re: The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Answer these questions about the film:

1. Who was the Piper?
2. "We used to be a community". (Billy Ansel)
3. "We are losing our children". (M. Stevens)
4. Why did Nicole lie?
5. Which lines recited by Nicole are not from Browning' s poem?
6. Why is this title "The Sweet Hereafter?"
5. At the end is anyone punished?
6. What makes this film Canadian?
7. Why is there no consolation from religion?
8. Is there any "decent, upstanding citiyen

monica-pop · Trimis: 05/12/2010 17:05 Titlul subiectului:

To answer the first question, in my view the correspondent piper in the film is Dolores because she is the one who gathers the children using her "pipe", the bus, and takes them from the harsh Canadian lands to the more beautiful realms promised after death. On the other hand, the lawyer also takes some of the piper's characteristics in the legend. He tries to solve a community problem, he does his best to be successful, but finally he loses and is not paid.

monica-pop · Trimis: 05/12/2010 17:23 Titlul subiectului:

We might have asked ourselves why was Mr. Stevens so emotionally involved in the case. In fact nobody asked him to defend their rights, but he offered his services and put a lot of effort in revenging those children's deaths. The explanation comes from the relationship with his drug addicted daughter. He might have been frustrated because he failed in his paternal duties, and subconsciously, a success in this trial would compensate his loss. That is why, he said "we are losing our children", because not only the dead children, but also the ones in life, but without future, are lost.

cosmin.balog · Junior Data inscrierii: 22/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 4

1. Who was the piper?
The piper is Dolores (the bus driver) who took the children into the other world.
2. “We used to be a community”
Before the accident, they were more united. Now, especially since the lawyer came, they have different opinions.
3. “We are losing our children”
The lawyer wanted to be more convincing and to successfully persuade the most opposing of the fathers he had told that his daughter was a drug addict.
4. Why did Nicole lie?
Nicole lied because se was upset with her father and with her life.
5. –
6. Why is this title “The sweet hereafter”?
Before we can “taste” the thereafter we should try the sweetness of the hereafter.
7. Why is there no consolation from religion?
Probably because religion is not always openly expressed (we carry it within ourselves). Probably because the poem was also devoid of religious motifs. Probably because the film was already lengthy, and to express religious aspects (which is not an easy task) would have cost another 10-20 minutes to the already 112 minutes.
8. Is there any decent/upstanding citizen?
Well, not in the way the average layman would consider it. What happened to Dolores could happen to anyone. This reminds me of what Jesus taught us: “The one who has no sins should throw the stone first” (Moment in which a woman from the crowd made her way and threw a stone. In that moment, Jesus sighted and said: “Oh, Mother, you are getting on my nerves!”)

monica-pop · Trimis: 06/12/2010 18:25 Titlul subiectului:

In comparison with "Bon Cop, Bad Cop", where the canadian features were obvious, in this film there are not essential aspects to define its canadianess. The plot and most of the characters could fit many other countries. Instead, the settings are clearly Canadian. The vast land, the people who stay quite far one from each other and are still neighbours, the harsh winters make up a Canadian background. Moreover, there was that Indian boy, "the bear", who reminds us of the Canadian Aboriginal people.

anamariaagostonsatumare · Trimis: 07/12/2010 13:55 Titlul subiectului: Re: The Sweet Hereafter (1997)

Who was the Piper?

If I think of Browning’s poem, the Piper was a magician, who saves the children from an impure, corrupt society. I don’t know if the lawyer could have been the one who tries to save the children from decay. Dolores drove the bus to the “other world” and Nicole, who was not as the other children, could not enter the other world.

“We used to be a community”
They, the town’s people, used to be decent and pure hearted before being vicious and impure.

“We are losing our children”
“Our children” because the lawyer has a child too, that he cannot help and he feels guilty for not being able to save her.

Why did Nicole lie?
She lies because she is unhappy and wants to punish her father.

Why is there no consolation from religion?
There is no consolation from religion because all the characters do not seem to be believers in God. I mean, they are vicious and depressive. They cannot be saved by a priest, they suffer and try to survive, not looking for salvation from outside. They need to understand why they are suffering.

Is there any decent/upstanding citizen?
It’s hard to say. Maybe Dolores, the bus driver is the one who is decent, and is present at the juridical hearing. She is the only one ready to fight for justice. The lawyer is not from the town, he is fighting and at the same time filled with remorse for his own faults in education.

5. Which lines recited by Nicole are not from Browning' s poem?

I haven’t noticed any lines not from Browning’s poem. The director chose the ones from : “There was a rusting... laughter”.Then left out the conversation with the Mayor of the town. Beginning with “As they reached the mountain side...everything was strange and new”. It didn’t make sense to put the mayor in the story too. But the conclusion of the poem is missing somehow, that people should have kept their promise, even if it was given to pipers or other creatures.

Lavinia Voinescu · Junior 2 Data inscrierii: 10/Apr/2010 Mesaje: 20

cosmin, what do you mean by ''sweetness of the hereafter''? :whistle:

Lavinia Voinescu · Junior 2 Data inscrierii: 10/Apr/2010 Mesaje: 20

Billy Ansel, just like the rest of the people is depressed, we can see this on their faces, in the way they talk, they behave. After the accident feels like they are zombies, they act like they have no soul, no life inside their bodies, there is no smile on their faces. When he sais that they used to be a community, I guess he reffers to the beautifull life thay had, the happy families they used to be, living in the town all together, helping each other. Now, Billy speaks foe everybody, he finds himself, empty of life, having an affair with a married woman, with no reason to live. All the happines and joy turnes into grief, sorrow and pain.

adrianamichnea · Trimis: 10/12/2010 20:38 Titlul subiectului:

1. Who was the piper?
The piper is Dolores because she takes the pure children away from an infected community. The only two persons who survived to this accident were Dolores and Nicole, persons who were not pure anymore.

2. "We used to be a community". (Billy Ansel)
After and before the accident they are still a community from many points of view. They live in the same aria under the same laws, they have common rights. I think that Billy Ansel wants to say through this words that they are not a community from a moral point of view.
Billy Ansel seems to be the most affected parent. He was there when the accident happened but he couldn’t do anything just looking how his children were dying. Maybe Atom Egoyan wants to show that the destiny is more powerful than any human being.

Diana Pop · Junior Data inscrierii: 09/Apr/2010 Mesaje: 12

Je crois que ''The piper"" soit Dolores, la femme qui conduit le bus, car c`est elle qui ''conduit'' les enfants vers un autre monde quoi qu`il s`agisse de Paradis, a mon avis car, les ames de ce enfants ont ete purs.

Diana Pop · Junior Data inscrierii: 09/Apr/2010 Mesaje: 12

Avant l`accident, ils habituent être plus unis, être une vraie communauté. C`est l`accident qui a rompu cette unité. Selon moi, ceux qui ont réalisé cette unité sont les enfants. Leur mort a apporté le désastre dans la communauté.
L`avocat affirme : « We are losing our children » (The sweet hereafter) parce qu`il fait une analogie à sa propre vie, car il ‘’perdre ‘’ à son tour sa fille qui utilise les drogues.
A mon avis, Nicole dit un mensonge parce qu`elle n’est pas heureuse avec sa nouvelle conditions et elle veut échapper des abus de son père.
Je crois que le titre de ce film est un oxymoron parce que c`est en contradiction aux événements qui se passent dans le film.
On n`a pas des aspects religieux dans ce film parce que la communauté est trop infectée par les intrigues qui existe, dans une telle communauté il n`y a pas la religion. La religion, à mon avis donne la force, le bonheur. On n`en peut pas parler, et probablement l`accident survient à cause de la manque de religion.
Je n`ai pas vu à la fin de ce film des punis parce que mon opinion est qu`il n`y a pas gens qui ont provoqué en fait l`accident.
Pourquoi c`est un film canadien ? Parce que ce film analise la vie d`une communauté canadienne qui vivent ‘’tranquillement’’ avant l`accident.
Je crois que le seul personnage décent de ce film soit Dolores parce qu`elle n’est pas impliquée en aucune relation amoureuse. Ce n`était pas sa faute à mon opinion

taraczkozi claudia · Junior Data inscrierii: 21/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 8

In my opinion the Piper was Dolores because she drove the children of the community to death. As the Piper used the pipe to attract the children, Dolores used the bus to take them away from their families and from the community.

taraczkozi claudia · Junior Data inscrierii: 21/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 8

Nicole lied because she couldn't accept her faith living as a handicapped person. Therefore, she wanted to revenge herself in any way and to find a person who was responsible for the accident.

taraczkozi claudia · Junior Data inscrierii: 21/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 8

M. Stevens'statement "We are losing our children" highlights the cruel destiny of the parents presented in the movie. Either we speak about the parents of the community who have lost their children in the accident, or about Stevens who has lost his daughter due to the drug addiction, in both cases parents are aware that they can't do anything to save their children.

taraczkozi claudia · Junior Data inscrierii: 21/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 8

In the end nobody seems to be punished. Moreover, Dolores, considered the main suspect, goes on with her job as a driver. Even if they tried to find a guilty person, the problem was that they didn't analyze deeper the causes of the accident. They were more concerned of the person who produced the accident and not on the way how it happened.

taraczkozi claudia · Junior Data inscrierii: 21/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 8

In the end nobody seems to be punished. Moreover, Dolores, considered the main suspect, goes on with her job as a driver. Even if they tried to find a guilty person, the problem was that they didn't analyze deeper the causes of the accident. They were more concerned of the person who produced the accident and not on the way how it happened.

taraczkozi claudia · Junior Data inscrierii: 21/Mar/2010 Mesaje: 8

Taking into account the way how Nicole was behaving with children, and not only, we might say that she was the only decent person in the movie. However, the fact that she lied made her losing her innocence and her relation with her father revealed in the end her true personality.