Did I understand the ending right?

My interpretation exactly. They were bound to keep coming, so at least he didn't let the biotech firm "win" in the end.

You almost got it all. I agree with your interpretation but I think you missed one key point.

Martin was also sparing the Tiger from a miserable life of solitude. It was the last of it's kind and was clearly in despair. The lonely and dejected expression on it's face said it all. "Hunting and killing, waiting to die" is a line that bears repeating.

Also interesting, is the parallel between Martin saving the Tiger from loneliness and despair, and saving the little boy from them as well. The shot at the end, where the boy was sitting alone, was supposed to connect his plight with that of the Tiger (and Martin). All 3 of them were spared in this ending.

Absolutely brilliant!

Beliefs are the eyelids of the mind

I think jruth3 and NathanMV added the necessary points to your good conclusion.
I thought this film was excellent! It rapped up the whole thing with Martin closing the book on the Tiger.
Imagine the life that Tiger (albeit fictional) was enduring: no mate, everyone hassling his environment, struggling to survive, and then, an animal doesn't know suicide so it must go on.
What was it like for the last Dodo bird? or the last Carrier pigeon?
We humans can be such jerks when it comes to other species that share this planet with us.
I only wonder why the screenwriter didn't have Martin show Bike the bottle, and tell him that his father is gone.

The movie does give that impression, I agree with the OP's interp. But I have read the book, and that was much more bleak and even a bit morbid.

In the book, no one from redleaf follows the hunter, in fact, there is no mention of the name of the biotech company at all. The children's father was actually just a scientist that disappeared during one of his study sessions up in the forests. (As far as I recall, there were no clues as to him also being after the tiger). In fact, one of the most compelling things about the novel was this total mystery surrounding the hunter (who is only known as 'M' in the whole book). It is only revealed at the end that he was hired by some biotech company. So, in the book, the hunter is pretty obsessed with finding the tiger, he does think about its plight, being the last one of its species, but he is always focused on his job. He does grow more attached to that family in between, and their house is burned down, the mother and daughter die, son survives, and it was a strong possibility that it was actually just an accident (the mother never quite recovers from that drugged up state, she is too drowned in sorrow from her husband's death, and quite neglectful of responsibilities). The boy is sent away for foster care. This incident at the end shakes up the hunter pretty bad, it was the first time (since forever, maybe) that he was connecting to humans like that. He goes back up in the hills, becomes even more maniac, paints himself up, lies in disguise, finally spots the tiger after a few trippy nights, and kills it and collects the samples. The book ends there.

QUOTE.....At the climax of the film Dafoe kills (possibly) the last Tasmanian Tiger. He does it because the biotech industry want it so bad they wont stop hunting it and that hunting has already caused the death of the kid's father, the death of the mum and daughter and the death of the second hunter behind Dafoe. The search for this creature is wreaking such a trail of destruction that Dafoe shoots this magnificent creature and destroys it, dooming the species to extinction forever in order to stop the human folly and misery that it's causing. ....END QUOTE

There's a bit more to it than that. In the film, the reason the biotech company wants the dna and biologic material from the tiger is because it's reputed to have a rare toxin that can paralyse its prey. He knows that while there may be good uses for such a chemical compund, it also could be used for harming many people in warfare. The hunt for the animal has already destroyed an entire family and left a boy orphaned, and he knows that until the company gets the animal they won't stop, the animal is going to live a hunted existence and die miserably no matter what and many people could die because of it. So Martin denies them the opportunity and preserves the animals dignity in the only way left possible.





Give me a hedgehog and I'll show you.

[deleted]

my interpretation as well.

one question. i missed some parts at the end. the ashes at the end, who's were they, the beast's?

This makes the most sense, I guess, but still the idea of the 'biotech' companies wanting it so bad just seems like a lot of nonsense to me. (Why? For the bogus toxin that was mentioned?) The people saying the tiger was lonely or wanted to die; that just seems like flippant projection. (And anyway, how do we know for sure it's the last one?) I just can't get behind an ending that attempts to present the killing of the last of a species as a somehow noble act, under such flimsy rationale.


--- grethiwha -------- My Favourite Films:
http://www.imdb.com/list/Bw65XZIpkH8/