Netflix’s ‘the Wasteland’ ending explained: Diego overcomes his fear, but pays a heavy price
Contains spoilers for ‘The Wasteland’
“The Wasteland†is the latest piece of foreign content on Netflix. Despite some impressive patches (largely due to the cast’s stellar performance), the horror fails to captivate after a certain point. At 92 minutes, the feature follows a family of three – a father, wife and son as they navigate through war-torn 19th-century Spain. They live far from the civilization that they believe is a better environment to raise a child and live in peace, but that life only lasts so long after trouble comes knocking on the door.
Lucia (Inma Cuesta) believes in the gentle and patient education of her child, Diego (Asier Flores) while her husband, Salvador (Roberto Ãlamo) wants to make him a man even before he enters his teenage years. The kid is still young and curious, and the father hopes to carve him into a mature boy. Everything seems to be going well for the family until a half-dead man is saved by the lake only for Lucia and Salvador to see him blow his brains out. In order to deliver the corpse of the deceased to his family, Salvador leaves only to be killed during his journey.
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Paranoia and hallucinations set in for Lucia who fails to process her husband’s death, and it wreaks havoc on young Diego who hopes to heal his mother, but his efforts are in vain. The deranged mother senses that there is a beast (a figment of her imagination created by Salvador’s death) and drives her mad as he pulls out the pistol and shoots the vast expanse of nothing but earth. Meanwhile, her gentle ways with Diego turn into rude words and taunts.
“The End of the Wasteland Explained”
The final minutes of the film see a terribly ill Lucia and a rapidly maturing Diego face their ultimate test: overcoming the fear that has engulfed the family. Cuesta shows off her acting skills as she rocks between confusion and fear as Diego struggles to show his mother the light. Ultimately, he assumes his mother’s fear was responsible for the chaos, and he ultimately conquers the beast, an entity depicted as a crudely carved wooden figurine.
The ending sees Lucia commit suicide in fear of being killed and despite Diego’s efforts to save her, she succumbs to her injuries. The story is a classic case of conquering fear, but for the young Turk, victory comes at a price. He loses both of his parents as he ventures into a cruel world from which his parents have protected him. The beast was killed, but not before it had made him a man in the most horrific way possible.
“The Wasteland†is available to stream on Netflix.