‘Bardo’ Ending Explained: Alejandro Iñárritu’s Netflix Movie Comes With a Twist That Explains Everything

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths—which is now streaming on Netflix—is the latest movie from Oscar-winning Mexican filmmaker Alejandro G. Iñárritu, aka the same man who brought you Babel, Birdman, and The Revenant. But if you thought those films were bizarre, you’re not ready for Bardo. Because this surreal, absurdist family drama is on a whole other plane of reality.

But though it’s filled with impossible imagery and follows a dreamy, non-sensical plot, Bardo also feels like Iñárritu’s most personal film to date. It walks the tightrope of experimental and cliché, unconventional and sentimental, and political and personal. And when you get to the Bardo ending, a whole lot of things that didn’t seem to make sense will suddenly click into place. (If you can brave the film’s two-hour and 39-minute runtime, that is.)

That said, if you got to the end of the movie and you still don’t get it—or if you don’t have the three hours to spare—don’t worry. Decider is here to help. Read on for a thorough breakdown of the Bardo plot synopsis, and the Bardo ending, explained.

Bardo plot synopsis:

The movie opens from the point of view of a man leaping at impossible heights through the air, over the desert. On one jump, he leaps so high that he never comes back down.

We soon learn that this man is our protagonist, Silverio Gama (Daniel Giménez Cacho), is a very successful investigative documentary filmmaker from Mexico. He’s so successful, in fact, that he spends a lot of time in Los Angeles in America. He keeps a second home in LA, and he, his wife Lucía (Griselda Siciliani), and their two children Camila (Ximena Lamadrid) and Lorenzo (Iker Sanchez Solano) split their time between Mexico and LA. Silverio and Lucia are happy together, although they are haunted by the death of their third child, Mateo, who died a day after he was born. This trauma is conveyed through several disturbing sequences of an infant being shoved back into Lucia’s vagina, complete with horrible squelching noises.

It’s just one of many bizarre, surreal images that litter the movie. It’s hard to know what’s real, and what Silverio is merely imagining. But eventually, you’ll be able to cobble together a plot: Silverio is going to receive a prestigious American award for journalism and will become the first Latino person to do so. He believes this is because America’s ambassador to Mexico wants to smooth over Mexican-American relations in light of the (fictional) news that Amazon is going to purchase the Mexican state of Baja California.

After his meeting with the ambassador, Silverio imagines a scene from the Mexican-American War, specifically, the Battle of Chapultepec in 1847. In that battle, the Mexican cadets were told to stand down when U.S. troops invaded Chapultepec Castle. Instead, the cadets disobeyed orders and defended the territory. Six cadets lost their lives and were remembered as Mexican heroes, and legend has it that one cadet, Juan Escutia, threw himself wrapped in the Mexican flag to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Americans. So that’s what that was all about.

Silverio’s old friend and former coworker, Luis (Francisco Rubio) invites Silverio to be a guest on his talk show. Silverio, knowing that Luis has disparaged him for selling out to white America on the show in the past, imagines a scene in which he shows up on the talk show and is ruthlessly mocked by the host. In real life, Silverio bails on the talk show without telling Luis.

Silverio is working on a new documentary about the Mexican migrants who are crossing the U.S.-Mexican border on foot, and his teenage son Lorenzo calls him out for his ability to run away from (and come back to) Mexico whenever he wants. This guilt obviously bothers Silverio. Silverio and his family attend a premiere party in Silverio’s honor. We meet Silverio’s siblings, whom he doesn’t seem to care about, and Silverio’s adult daughter Camila, whom he seems to love very much. When it comes time for Silverio to give a speech at the party, he hides in the bathroom and imagines a conversation with his dead father. His father reminds him that “success will poison you.”

After the party, Silverio goes to visit his still-alive mother. Mom can hold a conversation but is fuzzy on details, including the fact that her husband is now dead. Mom tells Silverio about a song his father used to sing, which Silverio doesn’t remember. When he leaves his mother’s apartment, Silverio imagines a scene in which he speaks to Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés—the man that many credit with colonizing Mexico for Spain—on a pile of dead bodies. Cortés insists he was only trying to help, and that he has been unfairly blamed for Mexico’s struggles. Then a director yells, “Cut!” and the pile of bodies turn into a pile of background actors, who begin to get up, as we reveal the entire scene has been on a film set.

Back in reality, Silverio is on vacation in Baja California with his family. His daughter tells him she is moving to Mexico full-time. Despite his talk about how great Mexico is, Silverio doesn’t want his daughter to live here. Camila teases her father for being soft, and for not even taking the LA metro when he is in Los Angeles. While on the beach, Silverio and his family spread the ashes of baby Mateo in the ocean. Silverio imagines Mateo as a baby crawling into the sea. On the plane ride back to America, Lorenzo tells his father about a time when he was younger and tried to pack his pet axolotls (which is a type of salamander) into his luggage. The bag he put the salamander in broke, and the creature died. Lorenzo hid the evidence and never told his parents, until now.

Bardo ending, explained:

Back home in LA, Silverio takes his daughter’s suggestion to try the LA Metro. He also buys his son Lorenzo a surprise gift of a new pet axolotl, after being moved by Lorenzo’s story on the plane. While sitting on the train with the salamander, Silverio suffers from a stroke. The bag breaks open and spills across the floor, which explains one of the early, surreal scenes in the movie in which Silverio imagined swimming across a flooded subway car. After spending hours on the train in a state of dubious consciousness, Silverio is discovered by a worker, and taken to the hospital.

What is the Bardo plot twist?

It is revealed that Silverio has been in a coma this entire time. Whoa! The whole thing was a coma-induced fever dream. It was a semi-accurate recollection of the past few days, but it was influenced by the conversations around his bed and television in his hospital bedroom. This explains why certain dialogue—like Silverio’s wife when he got home from work, and she asked where he was—sounded odd and distorted. In his coma, Silverio sees his daughter accept his journalism award on his behalf.

In his dream-coma state, the Silverio who is not in the hospital bed seems relieved to realize what is really going on. He smiles when he sees his family in the hospital room. Entirely in his mind, Silverio returns to the Mexican desert we saw him in at the very beginning of the film. He meets up with his dead family members, including his father, who is humming that song Silverio couldn’t remember. He walks south, ignoring calls from his living family members that they want to join him. “There is nothing for you here,” he responds. He begins to leap through the air again. Once again, he jumps so high that he does not come back down to earth. With that, the movie ends.

What is the Bardo ending meaning?

The movie leaves it open-ended as to whether Silverio dies, wakes up from his coma, or stays in his coma. One interpretation, however, could be that because he flies away and doesn’t come back—and because he joins his dead family members, and leaves his living family members behind— he has died.  Or at least, he has left this plane of existence, and soared on to the next one, after re-living out his last few days on earth in his mind. Hey, that’s just what I think happened. You can interpret this surreal film as you wish.