Totally Ruined By The Ending

What satisfaction are you missing? The boy causes the pedophile's death and is discovered! Sure, it's understated, but it doesn't deliberately provoke or tease the audience. A meaner ending would have been to cut off at the accident, perhaps even leaving the creep's fate uncertain.

I saw this film in a theater and I didn't hear any protests after the film ended.

lol the ending was perfect due to the suspense of WILL THE MOTHER FIND THE BOY? her actually seeing him and freaking out n' everything would be expected and dull. You seem like you need everything laid out to you on a silver platter huh?

I don't mean to be insulting or condescending but I'm assuming that you were in want of a final scene where you see the boy, and maybe Michael's family, and see that everything turned out "okay". Right?

Personally I hate these epilogue scenes, I find them to be a waste of my time (imagination goes a long way and often a more rewarding one) and they often crudely diminish the impact of what passed before.

'88

I genuinely believe the director left practically no ambiguity whatsoever. The cut to black may have instilled a little fear and dread - but the closing song clearly indicted the boy was finally free.
For my money - that was the perfect ending. Was even a little mocking of the main character as that was his song too.

The ending was perfect!
"You work your side of the street, and I'll work mine"

Upon opening the door to the cell, the mother probably saw a dead boy, bloated and rotting on the floor of her son's basement.

The fact that some people thought they were "denied" the tearful reunion with the boy's mother wrapping him in her arms and rejoicing are kidding themselves, and to a certain extent minimizing the peril faced by people trapped in such circumstances. The absence of their jailer is a hazard to their lives. It's part of the moral outrage of Michael's action that he basically took on a parental role in the boy's life, making Wolfgang dependent on Michael for his survival.

This is a tragic film, but even though the boy is most likely dead, there is a slight bright side to it, that Wolfgang's parents will now know where their son is. He is in the ground. The fact that he's also a fictional character is some consolation, but he's representative of real people.

I originally posted the words above in a thread about the symbolism of the pickles. Go read that thread for clues as to why Wolfgang is, sadly, quite dead.

I would add one other symbol to that, which is Michael's burning of the picture of the two of them soon after Wolfgang threw out the letter to his parents. The boy had lost hope, lost the reason to live, as many in prison do. It's one of the reasons ex-prisoners often re-offend, not because they love prison, but because hope died in them a long time ago. Prison is barbaric, especially for non-violent offenders.