The Here After
classified 15 SPlease note: This was screened in May 2016
This debut from Swedish director Magnus von Horn is a taut and morally complex drama that follows John (Ulrik Munther), a gawky teenager who faces fear, hostility and danger when he returns to his rural community after serving time for a tragic crime.
John's release from a correctional facility (for a as-yet unspecified crime) is welcomed by evident fear and hatred by his small-town neighbours. As he silently endures daily torment from his high school classmates - and his peers' parents orchestrate a campaign to remove him from the community - the sole bright spots in his life are his younger brother and a new girl at school. But as the tension threatens to bubble over, John begins to break down under the pressure of the community loathing he suffers - and his own guilt and vulnerability.
Delicately balancing empathy and fear, rage and forgiveness, this is an expertly crafted (the details of John's crime are slowly drip-fed throughout) debut that gets right under your skin - and refuses to let go.