'The Train Of Death' Ending Explained & Film Summary: Is Purnama Dead Or Alive? (2024)

The Train of Death, beneath all the horror, tells a sad tale of the kind of havoc mankind has wreaked upon nature. It asks the question: What would it take for us to realize that this is not how we can sustain ourselves on this planet? It makes us imagine what would happen if the trees, the birds, and the animals started retaliating like humans do. The Train of Death reminded me of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, where the trees waged a rebellion against Sauron, as they had endured enough and stayed quiet for centuries and ages. Still, to this date, there are people who don’t find anything wrong with deforestation, who say that climate change is not real, and who disregard nature and the flora and fauna that maintain the balance on the planet. The evidence of our greed is right in front of us. The temperatures are soaring, species are getting extinct because of a loss of habitat, there are major fluctuations in the climate, and there are floods, famines, and landslides to top it all off. But still, instead of stopping ourselves from destroying nature and making amends in our own actions, we are just going about our business, ignoring the fact that the cry for help from nature can anytime turn into a scream of fury. If that happens (to some extent, it is already happening), we won’t be able to defend ourselves. The biggest criticism of our actions and us as a species was when the pandemic (COVID-19) happened. We stayed in our homes, and the nature around us thrived. It was proof of the fact that nature doesn’t need us as much as we need it. There are people who are actively working towards finding a solution, but it is not enough. We need to do more, and we need to act now, as otherwise, there wouldn’t be any hope left, and what is shown in all those post-apocalyptic films will happen in real life.

Spoiler Alert

What was happening in Sangkara?

A lot of trees were being cut down in a small town called Sangkara as train tunnels were being made through the forest. The local politician wanted the tourists to have easy connectivity when they came to visit what they called a hidden gem, a lavish resort amidst the forest. The laborers worked day and night to construct those tunnels, but eventually, something weird started happening. A lot of men mysteriously died, but the matter was never taken seriously by local politicians, as they knew that a resort like Sangkara was going to bring them a lot of revenue. It was always about money, and nobody cared about the kind of damage they were causing to the planet. To them, it seemed like a foolish argument to make, as whenever somebody warned them about what could happen, they ignored it blatantly. A worker named Paiman was working late at night when his colleague heard some weird voices coming out of the tunnel. He flashed a light on the roof to find the most horrifying creature clutching Paiman and killing him in cold blood. When the train that led to the resort was being inaugurated, there were a lot of women protesting against the local politician Mr. Bara. They had lost their husbands, and they needed an answer from him, but he was not moved by their grief. For a moment, the prime investor in the project got a bit tense looking at them, but Mr. Bara hid the reality from him and didn’t tell him about the deaths of the workers.

What happened during the train journey?

Purnama and Kembang, two sisters, came for the trip as they wanted a break from their mundane lives. Purnama was suffering from cancer, and she had lied to Kembang that her results were good and she was on the road to recovery. During the journey, Kembang picked up Purnama’s phone and learned from her family doctor that Purnama’s results were bad and her chances of survival were bleak. Kembang got angry at her sister and told her that no matter what the doctors said, she needed to fight and keep her faith. Kembang made Purnama promise that she would not surrender so easily and keep battling the disease. Amidst the emotional conversation, the sisters noticed that after they crossed the first tunnel, the last carriage of the train was no longer there. Tekun, the attendant, asked them to keep calm, but he knew that the matter was serious. He informed the train driver about it, who told him to keep the matter a secret and not let Mr. Santoso get a whiff of it. But the ghosts of the forest were not going to stop before they killed everyone present on the train. After every tunnel, a carriage was lost, and soon, every passenger, including Santoso, came to know about it. Even when there was only one last carriage left, Mr. Bara didn’t want to stop. He wanted to somehow reach the resort, and he didn’t care if lives were lost in the process. But soon, the ghost made him meet his fateful end and killed every last passenger on the train. Purnama and Kembang went into the forest, but they weren’t able to escape from there. The ghost killed Kembang right in front of Purnama’s eyes, but for some unknown reason, they left her alive. Purnama was the only passenger from that trip who survived, and the ghosts took their revenge on mankind.

Why did the ghosts not kill Purnama?

In The Train of Death‘s ending, Purnama came back to the forest six months later with the same man who had earlier warned the authorities about their actions. Purnama came to know that for the trees and the ghost of the forest, humans were like soil, and because Purnama was suffering from cancer, she was less fertile. Her terminal illness became a boon for her, and her life was spared. She asked the native man why the trees and the ghost didn’t stop after killing Mr. Bara and why so many innocent people had to lose their lives. The man told her that it was necessary to make sacrifices to set an example. Nature and the ghosts knew that someone like Mr. Bara could take his position in the future and carry on the crimes that he committed. Purnama fought like she had told Kembang, and she was cured of her illness. She remembered the sacrifices made by her sister and many other innocent people to pay for the sins of mankind. The resort was left stranded, and the entire railway track, in less than 6 minutes, got covered by new trees. When man didn’t respect nature, it decided to take what belonged to it by force, and it was a huge lesson for the people.

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'The Train Of Death' Ending Explained & Film Summary: Is Purnama Dead Or Alive? (2024)

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