Whitewash (film)

Whitewash is a Canadian drama film, released in 2013. Directed by Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais and written by Hoss-Desmarais and Marc Tulin, the film stars Thomas Haden Church as Bruce, an unemployed snowplow driver in rural Quebec who develops a pseudo-friendship with Paul, a man who hides his deep disturbances behind a facade of warm demeanor which is slowly revealed through a series of sporadic flashbacks. The film's cast also includes Anie Pascale, Marc Labrèche, Isabelle Nélisse, Geneviève Laroche, Emanuel Hoss-Desmarais and Vincent Hoss-Desmarais.

Bruce is a snowplow driver in a small remote town in Quebec. While driving drunk during a snowstorm, Bruce fatally strikes a pedestrian. After Bruce panics and hides the body in a snowbank, he drives deep into the woods in a stupor and falls asleep. When he wakes, he finds that the vehicle has become stuck. Stranded in the freezing cold without supplies, he initially sets off to find help but returns to the snowplow when he sees no nearby signs of civilization. Left with nothing but his own thoughts, Bruce practices his statement to the police. During the imaginary conversations, he becomes overcome with emotion when told that his victim had children.

As Bruce wrestles with his guilty conscience, flashbacks reveal that the dead man, Paul, was Bruce's houseguest. Leaving a convenience store and coming across Paul in his vehicle attempting to commit suicide by inhaling vehicle exhaust fumes, unplugging the hose, Bruce starts conversation with Paul, admiring his vehicle and eventually commandeers the vehicle, driving around casually with Paul, developing a casual friendship, though Bruce becomes frustrated when Paul takes advantage of his hospitality and requests a loan. Bruce, a widower who has fallen on hard times after he lost his job due to drunkenly crashing his snowplow into a restaurant, explains that he can not help Paul. When Paul notices Bruce's collection of highly realistic ocular prostheses, Paul claims his proficiency with web design to Bruce and offers to set up an online presence to sell the collection. Bruce declines the offer and says that he can not bring himself to sell his wife's crafts.