MovieChat Forums > I, Daniel Blake (2017) Discussion > Rubbish ending, or did I miss something?

Rubbish ending, or did I miss something?

posted 7 years ago by Nicky-R
7 replies | jump to latest

Good film with a decent message, that is until the end.

Was my screening missing some scenes?

So, Katie joins an escort service and is so ashamed when Daniel finds out that she tells him she can't associate with him anymore and to stay away. She has to do this. Shortly afterwards, Daniel has had enough of the DWP mucking about in giving him his appeal that he spray paints the side of their building and gets arrested. Both characters have reached their lowest ebb. Time to sit back and wait for the third act of the film and the resolutions to both storylines/arcs.

But then, all of a sudden and without explanation, Katie is happily talking to Daniel again. Is she no longer working for the escort service? Did Daniel just agree to look past it? And they're on their way to his appeal, which we didn't even see being arranged.

Did I miss something?

Then, to add insult to injury, Daniel bites the dust just before we finally get to see the resolution to his story. Were they going to grant him his benefits afterall or not? We will never know.

What an awful ending. I was shocked when the lights came up and I saw people in the cinema crying. Obviously I wasn't as satisfied as them that the writer of this story chose to cop out on a decent resolution in favour of tacking on an 'emotional' ending. It would have been far sadder if Daniel had finally been granted his benefits and THEN he had a fatal heart attack. It's as though the writer got to a certain point in the story and decided "screw it, I can't be bothered anymore... let's see... she talks to him again, and then he dies. Done."

Was anyone else disappointed with how the film ended? Is this just the kind of film where we're not really meant to care about the storyline, just the "journey" of the characters?

[–] MichaelCarnell 7 years ago

Just watched it and I felt exactly the same as you. Everything leading up to that scene where they are back to being friends again was amazing stuff.

Then those last 10 minutes just felt rushed, anti-climatic and a really obvious way to end it with him dying.

As soon as he got up to go to the bathroom i instantly knew what would happen. Shame cause with the right ending this could have been an easy Film of the year for me.

[–] marclev78 7 years ago

Did you miss the scene where the daughter is knocking on Daniel's door begging him to speak to her mother again because she's sad?

We can infer that they reconciled their differences (and I don't think Daniel was ever ashamed for her, he was worried about her) and due to their close friendship he asked her to accompany him to his appeal once it was arranged.

I don't think the film would have gained anything from showing us this
, it had already delivered it's message by that point.

The ending was the only way it could have ended without a Hollywood ending tacked on that would have been completely against the themes of the film.

[–] Nicky-R 7 years ago

Did you miss the scene where the daughter is knocking on Daniel's door begging him to speak to her mother again because she's sad?

No I saw that, but I think it's a huge leap to go from that to them suddenly talking again (especially considering it was Katie who didn't want to talk to Daniel, not vice-versa). The subject matter was so emotionally heavy and an important part of the film that I feel we deserved to actually see the reconciliation between the two characters. I didn't have a problem with the fade-to-black flashfowards up until this point, but it felt lazy to do it here.

I don't think the film would have gained anything from showing us this, it had already delivered it's message by that point.

This touches on the question I asked at the end of my post. Personally I think whether the point of the film is made or not, you still should tie up the hanging threads of the characters' storylines convincingly.

[–] anomaleo 7 years ago

The user marclev is right. You definitely missed something. A few things...

[–] buchowski 7 years ago

Nicky-R,

My advise to you it to stop watching movies if you need everything to be baby fed to you.

Do you need to see Daniel take a *beep* just so you know he has eaten?

[–] Mina-Josie 7 years ago

I actually liked the ending. It came out of nowhere - just like a heart attack usually does. I thought it was realistic.

[–] repo136 7 years ago

The whole situation was messing with Daniel's health. It was shown subtly onscreen.
There was a point when his next-door neighbour asked him if he was feeling alright because he noticed he was looking unwell. The camaraderie between the two of them suggested that they had known each other for a long while.

The appeal scene was obviously the straw that broke the camel's back. This was what he had been waiting for and all his previous attempts had knocked him back so this was a big moment for him regardless of the wheelchair guy's positive support for him.

It was not a cop-out on the writer's part. This has happened to benefit claimants many times and the story was telling the many 'Daniel Blake's' stories.

I thought it was very effective.

Two for flinching!