‘Civil War’ Ending Explained: What That Violent Final Scene Means

A24’s Civil War movie is now streaming on Max, if you feel like kicking off your weekend with a dose of war, violence, and anxiety. Who wouldn’t?

Directed by Alex Garland, the filmmaker behind Ex Machina and Annihilation , Civil War stars Kirsten Dunst as a war journalist reporting on the demise of the United States during a new, modern American civil war. While you might think that concept has something to do with the current divided politics between Democrats and Republicans, in fact, there is no mention of either party in this movie. Instead, Garland seems to want his viewers to think about this fictional war in a more philosophical way, rather than a literal way.

But if you’re a stickler for plot and details, you might find yourself confused and frustrated by this movie. If you’ve just streamed Civil War on Max and feel lost, don’t worry—Decider is here to help. Read on for a full breakdown and analysis of the Civil War plot summary and Civil War ending explained.

Warning: Civil War spoils ahead. Duh!

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It’s not clear when, exactly, Civil War is meant to take place, but based on technology, we can assume it is the very near future, or even an alternate version of 2024. Lee Smith (Dunst) is a celebrated war photographer, reporting for Reuters on the demise of the United States, amidst a modern American Civil War. The third-term President of the United States (Nick Offerman) insists on TV that he is about to defeat the “Western Forces” (WF), a violent secessionist movement led by Texas and California. He also claims he’s about to defeat the “Florida Alliance,” a different secessionist movement. However, we soon learn that the WF has been gaining a lot of ground. The White House and its “loyalist army” are expected to fall very soon. If you want a better idea of how the country is divided in the movie, check out this map released by A24 on social media .

While Lee is photographing a confrontation in New York City with her colleague, Joel (Wagner Moura), she saves a young girl and amateur photographer named Jessie (Cailee Spaeny). That night, Jessie finds Lee at her hotel to tell her how much she admires her. The next morning, Lee has convinced Joel to let her come along for a dangerous excursion to Washington, D.C.

Lee and Joel plan to interview and photograph the president before he is executed by the WF. This is especially dangerous, because the loyalist army—unlike the WF—is hostile to all journalists and is said to shoot them on sight. Lee and Joel have also agreed to give fellow journalist Sammy (Stephen McKinley Henderson) a ride to Charlottesville. The team sets off on this dangerous journey by car. They witness a lot of violence on the road, and at first Jessie is shaken by what she sees, and unable to take pictures. Lee berates her for being too soft and for questioning the morality of the violence. “Once you start asking yourselves those questions, you can’t stop. So we don’t ask. We record, so other people can ask.”

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The WF secessionists seem somewhat friendly to press, and seem to want them there to document their revolt. But at one point, our heroes get captured by an unknown secessionist militia burying bodies in a mass grave. The leader of the militia (Jesse Plemmons) demands to know where everyone is from. He declares Missouri and Colorado real America, but kills two of their Chinese colleagues for not being American. He’s about to kill Joel, for being from Florida, but Sammy saves everyone by driving his car into the soldiers. They manage to escape, but Sammy is shot, and eventually dies.

Our traumatized heroes regroup at a WF base in Charlottesville. Lee and Joel learn that the Western Forces have already moved in on D.C., and that the government’s military has all but surrendered. They fear they are too late to get their interview with the president.

Lee, Joel, and Jessie shadow the WF army as they attack the White House, still hoping to get a shot of, and a quote from, the president. For the first time, Lee seems to lose her cool in combat. Jessie, however, keeps her head and takes lots of photos. Everyone is waiting to get a shot of the soon-to-be dead president. The presidential limo flees the White House, but Lee suspects it’s a distraction. She’s right.

The three journalists follow more of the Army into the mostly-abandoned White House. A Secret Service agent attempts to negotiate safe passage for the president out of the country, and is killed. At one point, Jessie breaks her cover to get a shot. Lee sees a gunman about to shoot her, and pushes her to the ground. Jessie takes pictures of Lee’s death, as she is shot by the gunman instead.

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Joel and Jessie leave Lee dead on the ground to follow WF soldiers into the Oval Office, where they finally have the president cornered. They are about to kill him, when Joel shouts at them to stop.

“Wait,” he says. “I need a quote.”

“Please don’t let them kill me,” the president begs Joel.

Joel responds, “Yeah. That’ll do.”

With his quote secured, Joel steps back and lets the soldiers shoot and kill the President of the United States. Jessie photographs his death, and then photographs the soldiers posing with the dead body. The movie ends, and as the credits roll, we see a shot of the soldiers smiling with the dead president slowly develop.

We never learn what, exactly, the politics of this dystopian world are, nor how the U.S. Army seemingly turned on its own government. But clearly, for writer/director Alex Garland, that’s not the point. Instead, Garland asks audiences to confront the tricky ethics and importance of war journalism and documentation. In the end, Jessie did exactly what Lee taught her to do: Let go of all emotion, and simply photograph what was happening. She didn’t try to save Lee, but she did document her death. And she documented the death of the president.

Whether other people will start questioning the violence thanks to these photos remains to be seen. As Lee once told Jessie: “We don’t ask. We record so that other people can ask.”

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