Straw ending explained: What happened to Janiyah?

Following single mother Janiyah Wilkinson (Taraji P Henson) who is caring for her sick daughter Aria and generally struggling in life, after one bad day too many, she snaps in dramatic fashion.

After a trip to the hospital with her daughter, struggling to balance paying for Aria's lunch and their rent, and dealing with an unsympathetic boss, things go from bad to worse.

She's forced to leave work to rush to Aria's school where she learns that her daughter has been taken into protective custody. Upon returning to work, she has an incident on the road with an off-duty police officer which leads to her car being impounded.

Now late returning to work, her boss fires her, refusing to give her final paycheck, before she returns home to find that she has been evicted.

This disastrous day comes to a head when she returns to her workplace to confront her boss, only for an armed robbery to take place – one in which she becomes implicated. Panicked, Janiyah shoots her boss, takes her paycheck and leaves, but with the bank refusing to cash her cheque, she resorts to hold up the bank.

Detectives arrive on the scene, attempting to negotiate with Janiyah, resulting in a tense hostage situation in which they attempt to convince her to give herself up.

A hard-hitting drama, Henson's performance as Janiyah brings a huge amount to the table, and really sells the desperation and tragedy of her situation.

But while the film's set-up is fairly easy to follow, the ending introduces a series of shocking twists that make the outcome of the film somewhat more confusing.

So, if you've found yourself struggling to piece together what happened to Janiyah in the end, and what the meaning behind the film is, read on for our explanation of Straw's twists and turns. Naturally, there will be major spoilers ahead, so be warned.

Straw ending explained: What happened to Janiyah's daughter?

The biggest pressure that we see for Janiyah throughout the film is what will happen to her daughter.

It is the potential loss of her child that causes her to lose her job, and her desperation to make sure she can still provide for her which finally leads to her taking matters into her own hands, and attempting to get the bank to cash her cheque by force.

Throughout the subsequent hold-up, it's the question of how she will be able to care for her daughter after all this that is ever-present in her mind. We see her trying to explain this to the sympathetic police officer, Kay, and even persuading the bank manager, Nicole, to help care for Aria after she is incarcerated.

Viewers are hit with a bombshell, therefore, when we see Janiyah's mother ringing Janiyah up, to tell her Aria died. "She had a seizure, and we took her to the hospital, and she died."

The revelation that Janiyah's daughter is dead sends her reeling. We see her tell this to Nicole, only for her to reveal that she had already known.

It's a moment that may leave audiences shook, since we'd already seen numerous scenes with Janiyah's daughter, Aria, seemingly alive and well.

But, in this moment, we are shown numerous flashbacks to these same scenes, where we see Janiyah talking with herself, speaking and interacting with thin air.

Even in scenes where other characters are present, viewers are shown reshoots of the same sequences in which it's made clear the little girl had not been there.

It's made clear in these scenes that Janiyah has not merely snapped from the stress, but has had something close to a full nervous breakdown.

Unable to face the reality, she has imagined her daughter was still there, when in fact she had passed away from her condition the night before.

Is Janiyah alive or dead?

This devastating moment is followed by an even more shocking sequence when, after seeing how FBI authorities are determined to escalate the situation, numerous armed officers burst into the building.

In spite of the hostages already having been released, we see these officers surrounding Janiyah, and opening fire.

The scene appears to be the final gut-punch at the end of the film, with Janiyah on the floor, seemingly dead.

It makes for a truly heart-rending moment after the full tragedy of her situation had been built up, and after we'd seen numerous police officers attempting to resolve the situation peacefully.

Sadly, it's a moment that feels all too believable after many similar scenarios in recent years.

Only a few seconds after showing us this image, however, the film abruptly cuts to the moments before this, with Janiyah still alive.

We see her accept that the situation is now over and that she must accept what has happened. Slowly, together with Nicole, she comes out of the bank and surrenders, in one of the most emotional moments in the film.

It may not at first be clear to audiences which sequence is real, and which is not. Ultimately, the fake-out shooting very clearly shows that both Janiyah and Nicole are aware this is what could happen, if she does not surrender. It also plays into our own knowledge and fears about how this could end on the worst possible note.

In the end, however, the film clearly implies that she does choose to surrender. The last sequence that we see in the film is her finally being taken into police custody, being driven off in a police car but with her hundreds of new supporters present for her to see.

Straw is now streaming on Netflix. Sign up for Netflix from £5.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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