Movie Guide

  • 2017-04-19

Aftermath (2017) – in cinemas from Friday, April 21

A 2017 drama thriller directed by Elliott Lester and written by Javier Gullón. Two strangers’ lives become inextricably bound together after a devastating plane crash. Inspired by actual events, Aftermath tells a story of guilt and revenge after an air traffic controller’s (Scoot McNairy) error causes the death of a construction foreman’s (Arnold Schwarzenegger) wife and daughter.

Schwarzenegger plays Roman, a man who works with his hands, but is woefully unable to do anything after the plane crash – perpetuated by a combination of equipment failure and negligence by well-meaning family man Jake – kills his wife, his daughter, and his daughter’s unborn child. Roman is devastated. He stays in his house, sees nobody, visits his family’s grave, and generally stares off into the mid-distance. Roman blames the air traffic controller and cannot let it go. He is demanding answers in person.

He doesn’t know Jake, but he’s shown to suffer just as much as him. Jake, post-accident, cannot concentrate. He tries to show love to his wife and son, but that proves futile. He doesn’t sleep well, is obsessed with the news, and is hounded by the press.

The film is based on the real-life crash of Bashkirian Airlines Flight 2937 and DHL Flight 611, and the subsequent murder of Danish air traffic controller Peter Nielsen at Skyguide by Russian architect Vitaly Kaloyev, who held Nielsen responsible for the deaths of his wife and two children in the disaster. The air-collision occurred on July 1, 2002, when the two planes crashed into each other in midair over the town of Überlingen, Germany.

More info on this movie can be found at: www.imdb.com