The last 15 min

This movie sucked. It had no courage of confidence, despite the whole subject matter, plot ... it was as sick and insane as they kept saying the Mother way. And of course the answer to everything is to have a super-rich grandpa. I mean, it was awful, worse than awful. It is like someone wrote and made this movie in their own secret coded language for their own secret coded reasons, and though I saw it, I have no patience of interest in knowing anything about it because it was so dishonest and basically stupid.

If this were the case, then the biggest lesson of all would have been lost. Ben (Viggo) learned of his infallibility and mistakes he's made (for many reasons spelled out in the film) and it takes the entire film / journey for him to learn it.

Everything from the mistakes of the way he was raising the children (start of story), the mistakes he made during the journey (like stealing, in the middle of the journey) to risking the children's safety in the rescue attempt (end of journey), all of which dawn on him, solo driving the bus, when he starts sobbing.

The end of the story is one of redemption: learn to be flexible, do what's best for the whole (put the kids in school). I suppose we (not he) could have learned the same lesson with going home alone, never to have the kids in his life again, and it would have had the same effect (this is what happens when you aren't flexible with the ropes life throws at you).

But I like the happier ending better: this is, more or less, how life can be happy with some compromise and acceptance of living with the rest of society.

Chris

i think that was the realistic ending

I feel like the entire point the movie is trying to make, that off-grid living isn't necessarily bad, and that kids, and adults, can thrive in unconventional settings, would be entirely pointless if "the last 15 minutes" were meant to be all in Ben's head.
I mean, what's the ultimate lesson of the movie if the ending was sad and unresolved? The overall meaning of the movie would essentially be "live like normal people and everything will just be hunky dory..." But we all know that flies in the face of everything Ben was... And of course we as viewers living in modern society also know that this message is just simply not true. Living a modern life is anything but hunky dory... But, as people who strive to make the most out of life, we find ways to be happy despite all the horrible shit going on around us. That is what Ben did. Making lemons into lemonade; finding a compromise between being an ordinary, mindless hooman who just does what society expects of them, and being a free spirit that wants nothing to do with modern life. In no way does the ending imply that Ben sold out... The final scene still shows the family to be at least partially self-sufficient, and closely bonded, while still keeping in mind that society expects certain things from them (like their children attending real school, college, etc.)
The ending was not altogether "happy," so why jump to the conclusion that it was all in Ben's head? It doesn't make a lot of sense... Because fantasy is "happily ever after" in whatever way the main character would define it.. And as Ben would never just become a sellout, and he clearly couldn't get what he wanted (which is to say, having his family with him) by living his off-grid lifestyle, one can only infer that compromise was made in order for Ben to retain many aspects of his lifestyle, while still doing what's best for the family and appeasing his Father-in-law. That makes logical sense without having to invoke fantasy. You know what I mean?