This article discusses the ending of the Apple TV+ film Raymond & Ray and will contain spoilers.
When half-brothers Raymond (Ewan McGregor) and Ray (Ethan Hawke) reunite when their estranged father dies, they discover that his final wish was for them to dig his grave. Together, they process who they’ve become as men, both because of their father and despite him.
Growing up, Raymond and Ray had a tough childhood because their father wouldn’t treat them as children. They grew up in a trauma-filled household and even after they were out on their own, their experiences as children continued. Their upbringing affected every aspect of their life, and Garcia showed how these boys grew into very different men. He explores how that pain can manifest and be expressed differently. Raymond is a bit more reserved, and complacent, and plays everything safe because it’s the opposite of what he went through as a child. His father’s connection is completely different from the one Ray had with him. On the other hand, Ray had abused substances to help make the pain go away, and when he got clean, life had other plans for him. This was all expressed through the many conversations they had during the drive to where their father was being buried.
Raymond & Ray ending explained
The ending of Raymond & Ray had a solid third act because of how everything came together. Raymond and Ray faced their father’s death in different ways. They had everyone their father knew around them at the burial and they even had their half-brothers help dig the grave themselves.
As they went to go say a few words before burying their father, Raymond was the one to express himself violently. He had repressed his anger for many years and even tried to move forward. But there was this finality that he needed when it came to his father. He ran to Ray’s car and took a gun from the trunk. He was ready to take his own life because of how he felt. He didn’t want to go on and thought that his pain would end with his father dying, but instead, he still felt everything in an overwhelming amount.
Within a moment of hysterics, he turned the gun to the coffin and shot at his father as he yelled at him. He completely broke down and ran to Lucia (Maribel Verdú) his father’s lover.
When it was Ray’s turn to say a few words, he took his trumpet and just started playing something for his father. Now, normally this would be a beautiful tribute to any father, but the connection to that trumpet, to music, was something entirely different for Ray. During the film, we find out that Ray used music as a coping mechanism to express his pain. And one day, in senior year, his father took that trumpet away from him to punish him. Ray receives a box of things from his childhood from Lucia and there was the original trumpet that he finally got back from his childhood. Both brothers got the closure they needed and were able to move forward at peace with their decisions.
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