The Ending of the 2021 Nicolas Cage Movie Pork explained its central objective of subverting viewers’ expectations by rejecting any violent conflict and, consequently, a conventional climax. The story of Pork could have gone down John Wick The path of Rob (Cage), a retired chef living deep in the Oregon woods, heads to the city in search of his beloved companion – a pig, stolen by violent criminals. However, instead of ending in a violent crescendo, Pork offers a relevant anti-revenge message and comes full circle at the end when Rob accepts his pain without retaliating.
At the end, Rob doesn’t get his pig backand your enemies flee, but this is irrelevant when compared to Porkhis true purpose: to learn to make peace with the past. Pork was one of the best films of 2021, although it requires patience from the audience. After Rob’s pig is stolen, the film takes an entirely different narrative course, but doesn’t undergo any shifts in tone; no drastic changes happen on screen, but if viewers look closer, the Pork The ending explains how Rob’s psyche was forever altered and that he chose to choose a path of healing.
What happens at the end of the pig?
Rob finds bloodless peace in Pig’s ending
By the time spectators arrive at the Pork In the end, many characters were introduced, but only three remain at the center of the story’s climax: Rob, Amir, and Amir’s father Darius. After a thorough investigation and enlightening conversations with figures from his past, Rob discovers that Darius is behind the theft of his pig. Darius offers the retired chef a reasonable amount of money in exchange for the animal, insisting that If Rob doesn’t give up the chase, he will kill the pig.
Some viewers may be dissatisfied with the bittersweet ending of Pork. However, it makes sense: it turns out that Darius is bluffing, because the criminals he hired to steal the pig mistreated the animal, so she is already dead. Rob reveals that he never needed the pig to hunt truffles – he wants the pig back because she is the only thing that matters to him.
After Rob discovers the truth about his pig’s fate during the dinner he prepared for Darius, he returns to his isolated cabin devastated, but something seems to have changed in him. He finally washes the bloody face he previously refused to clean and plays his late wife’s tape without feeling the urge to turn it off.
Rob’s Dinner
Rob used food and memories to manipulate Darius and Amir
PorkThe film’s many positive reviews can be explained by its subtle ensemble of characters. To understand the significance of Rob’s dinner at the end of the film, it is important to first understand the drama surrounding Amir and his family. At the beginning of the film, Amir tells Rob about his parents’ unhappy marriage and how the dinner they had at Rob’s restaurant was their happiest time together before Amir’s mother died by suicide.
However, it is later revealed that Amir’s mother is alive and in a coma in a healthcare facility. To get more information about his pig, Rob decides to serve Darius the same dish and drink he prepared for Darius and his wife years ago. As expected, this reopens old wounds from the past and hits Darius emotionallycausing him to confess the truth about what happened to Rob’s pig.
The True Meaning of Robin Pig
For Rob, Pig was never really about the pig
Part of the reason why Pork works is that the emotional appeal of the story depends largely on attention to detail. From the first few minutes of the anti-revenge film, viewers see how the pig is more to Rob than just a truffle-hunting asset. The two eat meals together, sleep next to each other and go for walks every day. Rob could fill the void in his monotonous routine with another companion, but he didn’t see the animal as a way to combat loneliness. The pig was a friend, he loved her and they looked out for each other.
PorkRob’s harrowing conclusion shows that Rob never accepted his wife’s death and now that his pig is gone…
Therefore, he feels like fighting to get her back. Most importantly, losing his beloved pig brings up painful memories about Rob’s wife, and his obsessive search reflects the urgency of avoiding confrontation with the past. PorkRob’s harrowing conclusion shows that Rob never accepted his wife’s death and now that his pig is gone, he has no choice but to learn what it means to finally let someone go.
What is the significance of Rob’s arc?
Pig is Rob’s journey to learn that pain is no reason to try to forget the past
Rob’s actions are difficult to read for most of the film, and Cage nails the role with solemn expressions that can say a lot without a single word. It embodies the anti-revenge nature of the film through the character’s passive attitude towards the enemies he made along the way. Rob spends the entire film looking defeated, but he doesn’t give up on his goals.
Pork could have taken the easy route by structuring Rob’s arc like a typical revenge story. Rob wants nothing to do with the people who took his pig; his only wish is to have her back. It’s almost as if Rob’s life stops after they get his pig, as he leaves the comfort of his home without looking back, never changes his clothes, never washes his face, and doesn’t resort to any kindness. As he encounters various faces from his past on his journey, they mean nothing to him whether they treat him badly or not.
Even after Rob discovers that his pig was mistreated and killed, he doesn’t take it out on Darius, who must also fight his own battles. Instead, Rob sees the situation as the moment he finally learns that what cannot be replaced should not be forgotten or ignoredBecause memories are precious and the only thing left.
What happens to Rob in the end?
Rob finds a new form of peace at the end of the pig
Cage delivers one of the best performances of his career in Pork’final moments mixing sadness and resistance in a single solemn look. Rob’s future does not depend on any redemption, but rather on accepting life as it is. Before the events of the film, his life was a perpetual postponement of mourning; he preferred to ignore the wounds of pain than face his demons and move on.
He now knows he can’t replace the things he loved and lost, so Rob probably won’t look for another pig.
Before returning home, Rob decides to resume his partnership with Amir, which implies that he will continue to hunt for truffles in the forest, this time using the trees as guidance. He now knows he can’t replace the things he loved and lost, so Rob probably won’t look for another pig. The same goes for his wife: he can finally listen to her tapes without remorse, feeling her presence around him.
How the pig’s ending was received
Quentin Tarantino praised the film’s creative ending
Pork earned Nicolas Cage some of the best reviews he’s received in years, helping to propel his return to Hollywood. Along with her acting, the film was praised for its unpredictable and emotionally satisfying journey, which ended with a perfect ending. Many critics pointed out that the film subverts expectations by offering a scenario that seems like a bargain John Wick imitation just to deliver something with a genuine message and a lot of heart. Ty Burr’s Boston Globe commented on where the film ends:
“Pig” is a thoughtful and well-made film for an audience prepared for rubbish: they are pearls before the swine.
Audiences also praised the ending for bringing the story to an emotional conclusion. While there is some debate about where Rob ultimately stands in terms of his grief, many fans, like Redditor MainRadiancewere struck by the heartbreak, sadness and human emotions of the film’s final moments:
I was very moved from the cooking scene to the end. I was crying and holding back sobs in the theater, but when they ‘revealed’ this, I couldn’t hold it back any longer. This movie broke my heart.
Acclaimed filmmaker Quentin Tarantino shared his love for Pork recently calling it one of the best films of the last five years. He also praised the ending for the inventive way it takes the setup and turns it on its head:
[T]The movie presents it as all the revenge Nic Cage seems to have had over the last five years… it sets up as something like that, only to decidedly not go down that path in the most creative way possible.
Starring Nicolas Cage, Pig centers on a truffle hunter in Oregon who returns to his old home in Portland to track down his beloved pig that was stolen from him. The mystery drama was directed by Michael Sarnoski, who would go on to direct the Quiet Place spinoff titled A Quiet Place: Day One.
- Release date
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July 16, 2021
- Director
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Michael Sarnoski
- Cast
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Nicolas Cage, Julia Bray, Alex Wolff, Gretchen Corbett, Elijah Ungvary, Nina Belforte, Darius Pierce, Adam Arkin
- Writers
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Michael Sarnoski