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The Teacher Who Promised the Sea - Ending

Short Summary

The film concludes with two interconnected moments separated by decades. In the present day, Ariadna's search through the mass grave in Burgos does not yield her great-grandfather's remains, but she discovers the profound legacy of her grandfather's teacher, Antoni Benaiges. The final scene shows elderly Carlos sitting peacefully by the ocean with his granddaughter Ariadna, fulfilling the promise that his murdered teacher could never keep during his lifetime.

Expanded Narrative Account

The ending of The Teacher Who Promised the Sea operates across two temporal planes that converge to create the film's emotional resolution.

In the present-day storyline, Ariadna arrives at Monte de la Pedraja in Burgos province, where excavations of a mass grave have recently begun. She carries with her the dying wish of her grandfather Carlos, who lies in a wheelchair at home, gazing toward the sea. Ariadna's mission is to locate the remains of her great-grandfather, Bernardo Ramirez, who vanished during the military coup of the Spanish Civil War and has never been found. As she moves through the excavation site, examining the unearthed remains, there is no confirmation that her great-grandfather's body rests in this grave. The search yields no definitive answers, no closure through discovery of his physical remains.

However, during her time in Burgos, Ariadna encounters an elderly man named Ramón Agirre who also searches the grave site. He too seeks his teacher, Antoni Benaiges. Through this encounter and her investigation, Ariadna becomes engrossed in the story of Antoni, the idealistic young teacher who once taught her grandfather Carlos in the village of Bañuelos de Buereba in 1935. She learns how Antoni introduced progressive French pedagogical methods to the children, how he inspired them with forest adventures and art projects, and how he made them a solemn promise to take them to the sea, a place none of them had ever seen.

The film then reveals what became of Antoni. During the Spanish Civil War, the military arrived at the village. They burned books deemed subversive in a public bonfire. Antoni, identified as a communist teacher and a threat to the conservative order upheld by the Catholic Church and local authorities, was brutally beaten and tortured. He was paraded before his young pupils in his broken state, and subsequently murdered. His body was disposed of and never found, joining the countless disappeared of the Civil War.

Despite this tragic fate, Antoni's legacy persisted through his students. The children had created a handprinted notebook titled "The Sea, as seen by some children who have never seen it," a miraculous artifact that survived the decades and the violence that destroyed so much else. This notebook becomes a tangible connection between past and present, between the murdered teacher's vision and the lives his students went on to live.

The film's final scene returns to the present day. Ariadna brings her grandfather Carlos, now elderly and frail, to the ocean. He sits quietly by the water with his granddaughter beside him. Though Antoni Benaiges was never able to fulfill his promise to take his students to the sea during his lifetime, though he was murdered before that journey could occur, his promise is ultimately honored across the span of decades. Carlos, one of his pupils, finally sees the sea. The promise transcends death and violence through the enduring impact of a teacher's belief in his students and their potential.

The fates of the main characters in the ending are as follows: Antoni Benaiges is dead, murdered by Falangists during the Civil War, his body never recovered. Ariadna's great-grandfather Bernardo Ramirez remains missing, his remains not found in the excavated grave. Ariadna's grandfather Carlos survives into old age, carrying within him the lessons and inspiration of his teacher, and finally experiences the sea that was promised to him so long ago. Ariadna herself becomes the bridge between generations, the one who uncovers the buried story and ensures that her grandfather's final wish is granted, thereby honoring the memory of the teacher who shaped his childhood and whose ideals persisted through the darkness of war and loss.

The movie The Teacher Who Promised the Sea (2023) does not have any publicly documented post-credit scene. None of the available detailed sources, including IMDb, reviews, or festival descriptions, mention a post-credit scene or extra footage after the main film ends.

The film concludes with a strong and moving ending related to the story of the idealistic teacher Antoni Benaiges and the present-day search for his burial, but no indication of additional scenes after the credits has been noted by viewers or critics. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is no post-credit scene in this film.

Antoni Benaiges introduces innovative and inspiring teaching methods based on the pedagogy of French educator Célestin Freinet. He replaces traditional strict education with creative activities such as setting up a printing press in the classroom, encouraging children to write about their dreams and ambitions, teaching them the waltz, and organizing forest adventures and art projects to stimulate curiosity and creativity.

Antoni promises his students, who have never seen the sea, that he will take them to see it one day. This promise symbolizes hope and a broader horizon for the children. Although Antoni is ultimately unable to fulfill this promise due to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War and his subsequent murder, the promise lives on as a lasting legacy that deeply impacts his students and their descendants decades later.

Ariadna is a present-day character, the granddaughter of one of Antoni Benaiges' former students and the great-granddaughter of a man who disappeared during the Spanish Civil War. She embarks on a journey to uncover the fate of her great-grandfather and, in doing so, discovers the story and legacy of Antoni Benaiges, including his teaching methods and the promise he made to his students.

Antoni Benaiges is targeted by fascists during the Spanish Civil War because of his progressive teaching methods and ideals. The town is taken over by fascists who burn all the books in the town square and murder many 'dissidents,' including Antoni, who is ultimately killed by Falangists.

The notebook, created by Antoni Benaiges' students and printed on the press he brought to the school, contains the children's visions and dreams about the sea, which they had never seen. It serves as a poignant artifact linking the past and present timelines, symbolizing the impact of Antoni's teaching and the unfulfilled promise to the children. The notebook helps Ariadna and others understand the emotional and educational legacy left by Antoni.