Summary
"He was more than a partner, really. He was my friend," says Wilford, talking about Gilliam. At first, Curtis does not believe him, but Wilford insists that the plan was for the revolution to end many cars back. Gilliam had to pay the price for the unexpected losses, Wilford says, before picking up a phone and telling Curtis it's time to "tally up the numbers." He calls one of his minions, who is at "Gilliam's place." Wilford asks the woman in yellow if the numbers are still the same, and she tells him they are at 74%. Wilford tells the minion on the phone to "spare 18, to celebrate our 18th year," and the minion tells him that's a good idea.
Wilford holds up the phone as the sound of screams and gunshots come through. "Your people," says Wilford, and Curtis becomes suddenly angry. Wilford urges Curtis to calm down and references something Gilliam once said to Curtis. "I'll miss Gilliam, I'll miss our late night phone chats. He could go on for hours, all with only one arm," says Wilford.
The scene shifts and we see Franco waking up in the sauna and pulling the knife with which Curtis stabbed him out of his side. Meanwhile, outside Wilford's car, Yona wakes up and sees that Nam has been shot, when suddenly he wakes up. Suddenly, Nam spots one of the partiers from the other car coming to attack him with a large dumbbell; he grabs ahold of the dumbbell and pushes his attacker down into some mechanism in the train to his death.
Next, a large group of drugged-out partiers, carrying weapons, come into the engine room to attack Yona and Nam. The scene shifts back to Wilford, who tells Curtis that in order to keep order on the train, the authorities needed to establish an atmosphere of chaos, fear, and anxiety. "In that sense, the great Curtis revolution which you invented was truly a masterpiece," he says to Curtis.
Wilford invites Curtis to come and look at something with him. It is the Sacred Engine, which Wilford tells him is just waking up. The circular engine hums as it turns on. "You are now in her heart. I have devoted my entire life to this: the eternal engine," says Wilford. He then asks Curtis about the last time he was alone on the train, then leaves him to have a rare moment of solitude with the engine.
Overwhelmed, Curtis drops to his knees in front of the engine, weeping. Wilford brings him a capsule with a message inside. "I just wrote it," says Wilford, as Curtis unfurls the message. It reads, "Train," and Wilford tells Curtis that he wants him to take his place on the train. "It's what Gilliam wanted too," he says, before telling Curtis that the train is the world and the people on it are humanity. "Now you have this sacred responsibility to lead all of humanity," Wilford tells Curtis, suggesting that without leadership people "devour one another."
We see Franco wandering through the crowd of weapon-carrying partiers, towards Nam. As Wilford's female assistant wanders out of his car, Yona kills her and takes her gun, firing it at Franco until she runs out of bullets.
Meanwhile, in Wilford's car, Wilford and Curtis watch the violence taking place, and Wilford points out how awful and "pathetic" the violence is. "You can save them from themselves," Wilford tells Curtis, adding that leadership is his destiny.
Yona runs towards Curtis and holds out her hand for his help. Grabbing a fork, she opens a tile in Wilford's floor, where they find the engine being powered by Tanya's son, Timmy. "The space only allows for a very small person, young children under five," says Wilford. Hearing this, Curtis punches Wilford in the face and begins attacking him. He rushes to the tile and reaches down to stop the wheels of the engine to help Timmy escape. Curtis then hands Yona the book of matches and urges her to use it to light the Kronole dynamite.
As the engine stops, Andrew's son climbs out of a small hatch and begins walking towards the engine. Curtis tries to get him to stop, but Andrew's son climbs into a compartment to start the engine moving again. As he wakes up, Wilford says, "Oh Curtis, don't be so melodramatic. You know everyone has their own preordained position."
In one instant, Curtis reaches down to stop the engine so that Timmy can climb out, Yona lights the match, and Nam kills Franco. Timmy runs to Yona as Curtis's arm breaks in the engine. The Kronole dynamite goes off as Curtis, Nam, Yona and Timmy hug. A giant avalanche pours down on the train as it moves through a tunnel and cars begin to fall off one by one. The front of the train jams into the snow and stops.
We see Timmy and Yona waking up in the car, surrounded by fire. Timmy and Yona don fur coats and go out into the snowy wilderness. They see a polar bear nearby, and the film ends.
Analysis
In this section, Curtis receives some earth-shattering news when Wilford tells him that Gilliam has been conspiring with the authorities the entire time. The paternal figure, the mentor that Curtis thought he had, is in fact working for the enemy, and this revelation completely bewilders Curtis. With this piece of information, everything that Curtis thought he could trust and believe in is destroyed, and he is left to face the evil Wilford completely alone.
Not only does Wilford disillusion Curtis by telling him that his greatest mentor, Gilliam, was working with the enemy all along, he also tells Curtis that his revolutionary impulse has only contributed to the genocidal project of the citizens at the front of the train. According to him, the overall order on the train depends on the violence and chaos of its citizens, and Curtis' efforts to overturn the system of governance has only created more chaos, which is exactly what Wilford has in mind. He calls Curtis' revolution a "masterpiece," news which delivers a blow to Curtis, who believed he might bring about some good.
All of the violence, despair, and chaos on the train is in service of the order over which Wilford presides, typified by the peaceful hum of the "Sacred Engine." The engine represents the fact that the hierarchical system of the train is concerned more with the abstract sustained effectiveness of the train itself, rather than with the lives and prosperity of the people. The engine represents a kind of abstracted industrialized priority, one that prioritizes progress and the retention of power over the lives of the people. The gentle hum of the engine contrasts ominously with the screams and clanging of weaponry just outside Wilford's door.
Curtis is presented with an exceedingly dubious opportunity when Wilford offers for him to take over his position as leader of the train. While he has believed the whole time that he would overturn the train and create a new order for his fellow citizens in the last train, the tables are turned when Wilford dispels all of Curtis' preconceptions and offers for him to take over as the fascist ruler of the train. In just an instant, Curtis goes from radical revolutionary to heir to the throne—the chance to become everything he has so loathed his entire life. Curtis' decision not to accept this position changes the fate of the train, and the society on it. Refusing to lead this oppressive society, Curtis instead decides to destroy it. One unjust order ends, and a new form of society now must be born.
The ending of the film, then, marks the beginning of civilization. From a futuristic science fiction story, we transition into a far more ancient and serious narrative. Having destroyed the industrial engine that has kept them alive, the protagonists set out into the snow in furry coats looking for shelter in nature. Yona and Timmy become surrogates for an ancient image of mother and child, wandering out into the snow, an image that represents the blank slate on which they will build their new lives. They are confronted with the beautiful wilds of nature, a stark contrast to the order and confinement imposed on them by society on the train. Survival in the wild, scary though it may be, presents the characters with an opportunity for a new life, and, finally, some peace.
