Le drame du vol 111

I am tempted to call this movie the "Testament" of air disaster movies. What I mean to say is that "Blessed Stranger" is to the gory air disaster movies like the "Airport" movies... just like "Testament" is to "The Day After" or "Threads". Instead of focusing on the destruction, the special effects, the disaster itself, it focuses on the aftermath, and the people behind it: the survivors.

Well, actually, there are no survivors since, as you know, when Swissair flight 111 went down, 229 people perished. The only survivors are the friends and family of the victims. Although the characters in "Blessed Stranger" are fictitious, the historical background is very realistic.

I loved this movie because it was very sensitive. I have rarely seen actors portraying their roles so well... or tears sound so real. Sure, you might get a tad bored of seeing people crying all the time, but that's the sad reality of grief. Kate Nelligan and Hugh Thompson are outstanding, respectively as the mother of one of the victims, and as a fisherman who helped the rescue efforts, which, as we know, became rather a body and debris collection mission afterwards.

Too bad it's just a made-for-TV movie, that will not be seen again, probably for a long long time. I'm glad that if anyone dared to make a movie out of Swissair flight 111, it was the Canadians, and they did it just right!

I would like to purchase this movie...anyone? Love the movie and will Be visiting the memorial site this summer in nova scotia. I have tried everything to find this movie. I watched it twice on t.v and highly recommend it, if you can find it. Please let me know if anyone knows how i can get a copy. DVD or VHS

This film just had an airing on UK television. I have to say just how unexpectedly good it was. A complete surprise. You rarely get performances as good as this in TV films of this nature. I suppose the fact that it was a Canadian production was a factor. It portrays ordinary people going through some traumatic times, and it does so with an immense amount of tact and feeling. It is heart-wrenching at points which isn't surprising considering the subject matter, but it is well worth keeping a look out for. Gently, and profoundly moving, with excellent location shooting and an apt musical score. Wish I had taped it. These sort of productions never seem to have any kind of review prior to transmission so there is never any way to know whether or not it is likely to be any good.

Hello there, I just did come home from visiting my parents.

When at my parents house,"Blessed Stranger"just started. Normally I disgust pulp movies.. so I also was thinking of this movie the first minute. What actually made me keep watching was the score/soundtrack. Even after 10 minutes the music mesmerized me, it sounded like "Hans Zimmer's - Gladiator,(Lisa Gerrard). I had to leave already after 30 minutes but those 30 minutes of movie where enough for me to understand that "Blessed Stranger" is NOT a pulp movie. It is not over-acted and the characters are for "real". I am going to hunt for that OST! SO, anyone who can help me with that?? Just let me know. Cheers and thank for you minute.

Bye . Peter

When I turned on the tv the morning after the crash and saw tape of the fishermen who had been the first to reach the crash site, my first thought was not for the dead but for those who had to deal with the horror of having hundreds of strangers die in their midst. For months afterward there were soldiers and sailors walking along the shore looking for debris, and ships trying to bring up wreckage. When the movie was made almost two years later it was still unthinkable to make it at Peggy's Cove where the crash took place. Many people objected to the film being made at all as being exploitative. So it is hard to be objective about the movie. I found it moving and sensitive, and was pleased to see it addressed the trauma of those on the ground. No movie ever suffered from having Kate Nelligan in it, of course, and the rest of the cast is restrained as befits the theme of unresolved grief. By all means see this one.