MovieChat Forums > The Last Winter (2008) Discussion > A run-down of what happened (spoilers)

A run-down of what happened (spoilers)

posted 16 years ago by navdin
20 replies | jump to latest

I enjoyed the movie quite a bit, even though it had it's weak point. It seems, however, that a lot of people didn't understand what was shown, and are left with questions. IMO, it all ties up neatly and it makes sense. Here's a run-down of what I think happens throughout the story.

******* Spoilers below *******

A team of drillers has been sent to the Northern Arctic to move in equipment, in order to continue a drilling project that was stopped in 1986. What's left of the project is a drilling site covered with a valve, wrapped in a box. Along with the drillers, the company has sent environmental experts to monitor that there are no negative environmental impacts; however, we find out that those experts are there more as a part of and attempt to appease the public, and aren't given any say in what's going on.

One of the environmentals (Hoffman) observes that the temperature is rising at an exponential rate. He makes a theory that this is melting the permafrost, releasing the CO2 trapped under it, which in turn is raising the temperature even more, creating a positive feedback effect, accelerating the process. He also theorizes that this might release "Sour gas" (H2S, i believe) which is trapped deep under the surface, or another similar toxin. Watch for the numerous signs in the station reading "Sour Gas Kills".

The toxin, which probably is seeping out of the valve site, begins to slowly build up, causing irrational behavior with the crew members. They begin to hallucinate, wander off, or attack each other.

One of the crew members (Abby) is found by a rescue team and taken to a hospital somewhere close to the drill site. When she wakes up, she finds out that the whole town is in chaos. This is an implication that the toxin seeping from the melting tundra is spreading to nearby regions, and could become a global phenomenon.

******** Common quetions: (SPOILERS again) **********

1. What are those ghost they are seeing?

In short, hallucinations caused by the toxin. They are visions of evil spirits from native Canadian folklore.

2. If the spirits are hallucinations, why is everyone seeing them?

First off, not everyone is seeing them. The expedition leader (Pollack) for example, never sees any of them. The fact that some of the crew members share the same hallucination can be explained by the fact that Dawn (who appers to be of native decent) has told them the stories of the Wendigo spirits. The more impressionable crew members begin hallucinating and their fears materialize in the form of a local legend they heard.

3. If the spirits are hallucinations, why was one caught on camera?

We have no evidence that all of the crew members saw the spirit on the camera. It could be just Hoffman's hallucination, who is already delusional and is convinced evil is coming out of the earth. Pollack behaves just as if he's seen a young man going crazy and rambling on camera. He throws the tape away and makes no mention of seeing any spirit.

Also notice immediatley after the footage is shown, we get a sow ot Hoffman staring wide eyed at the camera. This is further evidence that the spirit image from the tape is something only his eyes saw.

4. Okay, I get it, it's all just hallucinations. What's with the weird moose-dinosaur crossover?

The characters see what they want to see. They have heard the legends about the Wendigo spirits. They also talk among themselves and convince each other that they are grave diggers, and that oil is nothing but the remains of long-deceased creatures like dinosaurs. It appears that when you mix scientific climate fears with folklore and a mystery toxin, it makes for a pretty trippy ride.

5. What's up with the weather?

As the temperatures rise, the weather becomes unstable - we see rain and violent bursts of wind, one of which happens to bring the company plane down.

6. Why were people running off and taking their clothes off?

The toxin from the tundra is making the hallucinate and behave irrationally. Another explaination that adds to this is that as they wander off, they begin to suffer from hypothermia. Victims of hypothermia often believe they are hot instead of cold, and there are recorded cases of people taking their clothes off and freezing to death. This is also shown in the scene where Pollack falls in he water.

[–] EndLessMike2 16 years ago

navdin:

I think you are right.I was wondering why they didn't show in the end what Abby was looking at outside but I guess they couldn't afford to show a city in chaos.

But you are right about the Toxin theory.

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[–] Rusty-d-shackleford 15 years ago

blah blah

i think it was the earth fighting back not just hallucinations

but every one takes some think diffrent with them after watching this

[–] hoetay2 15 years ago

yeah, what this guy says. I think that most of the movie can be dismissed as ecological disaster or the leaking gas making people act crazy, but.......

they see EXACTLY the same thing.

[–] dragontatt5 15 years ago

Wow, spot on explanation! I understood this story in exactly the same way, people who bitch that it doesn't make sense need to pay attention to what is being said in the film. It's made perfectly clear that there is some toxic gas rising from the melting permafrost that can cause adverse reactions. Think methane and cave diving... they used to carry a bird with them to warm them of toxic gas that has built up for years under the Earth's surface. If exposed to methane for even a short amount of time, it can cause similar reactions as those portrayed in this movie, hallucinating before succumbing to the poisonous gas. The very end left me a little confused at first, but I decided that there could be three possibilities. #1 Abby is rescued, yet finally succumbs to the hallucinations by seeing the world in chaos. #2 Abby actually sees the world in chaos because the release of the toxic gas is causing the entire world to go insane. #3 Abby wakes up and sees the freakish violent weather raging outside (I didn't hear much screaming or chaos, I mostly heard very loud stormy weather) and realizes that what was happening at the station (environmental changes are occurring at a rapid pace) is now happening worldwide. Any one of those three would be a good ending.

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[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] dragontatt5 15 years ago

His nosebleed started because he got hit in the nose during a football game. Breathing toxic gases could have exacerbated the bleeding, resulting in an inability to heal and subsequently led to bleeding to death in his sleep. If a bad nosebleed occurs, the bleeding must be stopped immediately or suffer an immense loss of blood, maybe enough to render one unconscious. Some gases will cause nosebleeds upon inhalation, maybe the toxic gas emanating from the melting snow was making his nosebleed much worse than normal.

As for Abby, when she stepped outside the clinic, there was a lot of water on the ground. Maybe the climate change hadn't yet melted all the ice and therefore flooding the entire planet. These events took place in a relatively short amount of time. All the ice in the world may not have yet been melted.
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[–] essex9999 15 years ago

As for Abby, when she stepped outside the clinic, there was a lot of water on the ground. Maybe the climate change hadn't yet melted all the ice and therefore flooding the entire planet. These events took place in a relatively short amount of time. All the ice in the world may not have yet been melted.

"All the ice in the world" had not melted. The news report on the TV in the hospital talks about crazy weather but not rapidly rising seas. If the polar ice caps were melting, you can bet that would be a lot bigger story than flooding in Florida and snow in Buffalo! I think we're supposed to believe the toxin (or "nature's revenge," or whatever it is) was spreading and had reached the town where Abby was taken after being - presumably - rescued. This caused the staff to go crazy, such as the doctor who had hanged himself, or abandon the hospital. As for what Abby encountered when she left the hospital building, they probably did not have enough money to show a town-in-chaos scene, although not showing it also preserved an element of mystery.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] magicpink 15 years ago

Wrong, the wendigos were obviously real because they were picking people up and carrtying them around. They tear Perlman apart at the end as well and at the very end you can still hear their huge footsteps.

[–] lizardking144 14 years ago

I watched the deleted scenes and it shows at the end Abby gets snatched up by one of those creatures. So, I'm guessing everyone dies

[–] Scandal_1016 14 years ago

Yeah, my mom and I watched it and to us it seemed the beasts were real. We were guessing that the gas caused some kind of secondary vision (ala John Travolta's unexplained powers in Phenomenon) that allowed people deeply infected with it to be able to see the creatures and that perhaps they're being infected was sort of like a calling to them. Not sure...so much potential in the movie and then it just fell flat.

"Well, certainly illustrates the diversity of the word..."

[–] ofumalow 14 years ago

The OP's explanation is a terrific theory, though since the film is very deliberately ambiguous on several counts, it's not a definitive one. A more mystical explanation might be equally accurate in terms of the filmmakers' intentions. I don't think there's any straight-up "truth" to this movie, it's all interpretive.

[–] hillbillyfisherman 14 years ago

...didn't Ron Perlman get eaten by these hallucinations?

Bad movie in my opinion, a lecture we've all been given a thousand times disguised as a horror film

"Is it dead?"-David Della Rocco

[–] hunterraven99 14 years ago

Sounds like a pretty crappy, non-sensical plot; if you told it right at least.

[–] NancyLarned 14 years ago

You have some good points, but the Wendigo things have to be real.

SPOILERS!!!!!!!

It showed the creatures tearing Pollock apart and dragging Hoffman off into the wilderness. How could these things happen if they're hallucinations?

I understand what happened, but I still don't like the movie very much. The dialogue and the acting was pretty odd, and it wasn't scary or creepy at all. The effects were ridiculous and the movie was not well put together. I was pretty excited to see it, but I was so disappointed... I'm hoping the director's other movie, Wendigo, is better.

[–] jwhawk1971 14 years ago

Windigo was even worse than this piece of crap.

[–] ewfleming-616-650888 14 years ago

SPOILERS Good theory, but I think that the things they were seeing were real, like dinosaur ghosts, who did in fact move the people. I mean movie fiction real not real life real. Like they moved Maxwell's body and picked up Pollack and took him away just like they picked up the truck driver at some point and dumped him where Pollack and Hoffman found him in the snow. And Pollack DID hallucinate there he thought he saw Maxwell's naked body again not the clothed truck driver. I think too Hoffman didn't make it the only reason Abbey was still alive is that somebody sent another plane the next day and found her alone. Whereever she was, it was still in the arctic and it was really really warm if it was raining and all the snow was melted. Heck, here in Anchorage it takes a month for the snow to "break up" in the spring.

[–] tkip19 14 years ago

The movie is just a mess.

And your explanations doesn't explain stuff like what happened to the body or how his instrument showed he had travelled over 300 miles in a short time. Or that the characters were seeing the same looking ghostly images.

Or who rescued Abby at the end since I don't think anyone knew about their situation. Though Huffman did get that flare off towards the end.

It started off good, built some tension and then just fell apart.