Dead End is a mystical thriller co-produced by America and France. Its directors are Jean-Baptiste Andrea and Fabrice Canepa. The film debuted in January 2003. Work on it lasted almost 6 years. Dead End won a number of awards at several film festivals. The thriller captivated the audience with a famously twisted plot and an unpredictable denouement.
What is the movie Dead End about?
The Harringtons, including father Frank, his wife Laura, and children Richard and Marion, decided to spend Christmas with relatives in Boston. Taking with them the future son-in-law Brad Miller, the whole family set off on the eve of the holiday. Changing the long-term habit of driving on a familiar track, Frank decided to save time and went to the nearest forest road. The night trip tired the travelers. Everyone fell asleep, along with them, Frank fell asleep at the wheel. At some point, he miraculously, in his opinion, avoided a collision with an oncoming car that suddenly appeared on the road.
The road that promised to be short never ended. Passing a small house by the road, after some time they met a girl in white. She was holding a bundle with a baby, and a wound was bleeding on her face. No one could have imagined that this meeting would be the beginning of a terrible cycle of events that would plunge them into an abyss of horror. Mistaking the young woman for an accident victim, the Harringtons rushed to the rescue. But the mobile phone did not receive a signal, and the house by the road turned out to be empty. Then things happen that make the blood run cold. Our heroes learn that the baby the victim is holding is mutilated and dead. Then something inexplicable and terrible happens. Members of the ill-fated family begin to disappear one by one. Each of them, having disappeared, then briefly appeared driving away in a huge black car. Along the way, they find the mutilated corpses of their relatives.
Brad was the first. Having found his remains and trying to get through to the rescue service, on the line they hear the voice of an ominous stranger calling for help. Time has stopped on the clock. Richard even admits the idea of alien involvement in what is happening. Then the fact about Marion’s pregnancy is revealed. While the parents comprehend the information received, Richard goes into the forest. He becomes the next victim. Seeing him leaving in the same black fatal car, they later find a charred body. From grief, Laura loses her mind and, in a mad state, shoots her husband, wounding him. After some time, she sees a long-dead friend in the forest, runs towards her and also disappears somewhere. The shadow of a mysterious stranger in white clothes hovers invisibly over the survivors. Frank and Marion remain alone. But there comes a moment when Marion finds his father hanging from a tree. Her life loses all meaning. There is no limit to fear and despair when she sees the bodies of her loved ones in black bags.
Marion is in the hospital. She and her unborn child are no longer in danger. She learns about an accident in the forest that killed her entire family. And a woman with a child, who was in the oncoming car. Only Marion survived.
What is the meaning of the movie “Dead End”?
What did the creators of the film want to convey to the audience, driving the heroes into a mystical dead end? The main thing is the problem of life and death. A person in the bustle of the world forgets: he is just a guest in this mortal world. And inevitably the approach of the end, which no one can avoid. But with what baggage of sins and virtues will everyone come? People are interested in the question: what is there beyond the line, on the other side of life? No one will give an exact answer. In the film “Dead End” the characters die in an accident, but do not understand this, they see their deaths from the outside. All that is happening is the throwing of their souls between life and death. A black Cadillac symbolizes the Devil, taking away sinful souls. The gloomy atmosphere of the film reminds that there is no other way out, it remains to accept the inevitable. This is a dead end, a trap from which there is no way back. The road itself personifies the path of life, on which everyone has many events. In the film, the problem of generational conflict is seen, the mutual relations of people are comprehended. There is a place for morality here: life is a great value, you need to take care of it!
How does the movie end?
The main point of the movie “Dead End” is in the final scenes. Of the entire family, only Marion survived, expecting a child. The one that can give new life, pure and sinless, like a white sheet. The continuation of life is the purpose of man.
