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A standard resolution wouldn't work. The film is about the emotions. The scenes with Sarah Polley and the scenes where he interviews the bereaved families are heartbreaking, because the movie is so tender with the characters. It's a very quiet film, but there's a reason: sometimes words can't describe feelings.
...SPOILERS!
The lawyer's emotions are subtle, but if you're telling me that the scene with the bus driver, the scene where the single father breaks off his affair, the interview of Sarah Polley had no emotions, then you didn't see the same film that I did. The film isn't about how the lawyer comes to the town to fight the responsible party, it's more about the tones, the moods, the feelings of the characters. It's about carrying on when there's nothing left to live for. Things happen that no one can control, and people suffer. Life goes on, even when meaning for it does not. A conclusion would have trivialized the feelings of the characters.
And if you think that all films need to be wrapped up in a nice little package, then you my friend are a moron. A movie's conclusion should fit the story, and more importantly, the feelings. This film did that.
[Edited by Steve N. on 06-25-2001]