Sweet Hereafter Themes

In Atom Egoyan’s Sweet Hereafter, he explores various themes throughout the film which apply to the real world and today’s society. The most powerful and important themes in the movie is the way relationships are affected through substantial and critical events. Following the school bus accident, the relationships of Nicole and Sam, Billy and Risa, Zoe and Mitchell all change due to the enormous impact it has on their lives and relationships. Nicole and Sam, a father and daughter with a taboo romantic relationship which is frowned upon by their religious community. Billy and Risa, a husband and his mistress constantly committing adultery while they see each other quite frequently. Mitchell and Zoe, also a father-daughter relationship, are distant …show more content…
The majority of the community are against cheating while Billy and Risa continue to defy the norms. Since this is a religious community it is safe to assume that cheating is a taboo. At the start of the film Billy would be on consistent schedule to see his mistress to have sexual intercourse. Social norms are preventing people from expressing themselves to the fullest because of the social backlash they would face if they did. In today’s world people being themselves is looked down upon for example, people from the transgender community are facing discrimination because they express their true selves. This along with gender norms and homophobia is dividing the world. Gender norms such as women have to stay at home and men go to work and provide for their families, this is the leading cause of discouraging women to go out in the work force. Historically that might have been the case, but in today's world this has to change. Furthermore, there is a huge stigma surrounding LGBTQ+ community due to a lot of bigotry coming from people in society. In the case of Billy and Risa, the stigma of having a mistress is amplified due to the religious belief of their community. But after his two children die he abstains from seeing Risa, as he is emotionally scarred from the passing of his beloved children. Billy and Risa take their business to a motel that Risa owns so that they …show more content…
Mitchell and Zoe, also a father-daughter relationship, are distant since Zoe has different views from her father. Billy and Risa, a husband and his mistress committing adultery while they see each other quite frequently. Nicole and Sam, a father and daughter with a taboo romantic relationship which is frowned upon by their religious community. Relationship are everything in this small communities. People are connected and those people you are connected with mean everything, once you lose your connection with them, everything changes in the community for you. On a local level relationships have been the key to human socializing, it creates new connections with others and helps spread happiness towards other, so everyone in this town all contributes to helping each other in their well being. This film has an importance aspect to it, as it shows relationships, love, family and how these are all important aspects to