The Sweet Hereafter of Machiavelli and Weber

Abstract

This chapter aims to analyze the problem of the relation between ethics and politics as posed in the film The Sweet Hereafter, by Atom Egoyan,2 rooted in the theories of Machiavelli and Weber on good and evil in politics. It also looks to test these theories with the challenges exposed in the film, and to see if the film can help expose the limits of this reflection and suggest possible solutions. The Sweet Hereafter allows for reflection on the relation between ethics and politics because it raises the question of how to understand the sense of community by questioning its future, as seen generally through its children—the next generation of a town’s citizens.