Wil (2023) Movie Ending Explained: Netflix has a rich collection of World War II films and series, but a film like “Wil” (2023) by Tim Mielants falls a bit behind in that category. The giant streaming platform should definitely push these for a broader audience, as watching this war drama has been a good experience. The film overall has everything one could hope for. It has brilliant visuals, an overwhelming cast, drama, high-octane thriller, mystery, plot twists, and even a short-lived romance. These kinds of war drama films are very rare in today’s world. Interestingly, the director chooses to use an aspect ratio of 1.33:1, which leads to more intensity in close-ups, capturing the raw expression of the character at play. Let’s jump right into the plot then, shall we? Spoilers Ahead!
Wil (2023) Plot Summary and Movie Synopsis
Wil (2023) starts with Wilfred Wils joining as a police officer in the Antwerp Police Department in Belgium and listening to the rules from his superior, Officer Jean. Later in the night, we see Wilfred walking on the street along with another officer named Lode. Suddenly they meet with a German soldier named Feldgendarm. He is asked to arrest a list of Jew work refusers by the order of Hitler. But, before proceeding to that, Feldgendarm is required to escort himself with local police officers.
Wilfred finds this very odd as they are informed that German soldiers, on surveillance, must march in pairs, but since Feldgendarm interacted with them solo, it triggers some suspicion. But, neither Wilfred nor Lode is in a position to deny the direct orders from a German soldier. They see that their superior, Officer Jean, sees it all from afar but doesn’t interfere. Anyway, they follow the soldier and end up knocking on a Jew’s door.
What happens to the German Soldier?
When the older Jew opens the door, the German Soldier asks him to come. However, the old man asks him to come inside the house instead of offering him money. The Soldier tells Wil and Lode to stand at the door so that no one from the house gets out. Soon, a woman with her child tries to get out of the house, and the young police officers let her go. They see that the woman leaves the child at her neighbor’s and then goes inside the house again. However, a little while after, the man at the neighbor’s house apologetically pushes the little girl out of their house.
The little girl comes back to her mother despite Lode trying to stop her from going in. The German soldier comes and arrests all three of them. While coming back, Feldgendarm drops his bottle of pills, and he is trying to collect them. Meanwhile, the woman tries to run away with her daughter. Feldgendarm at first shoots at them, and when he misses, he runs after them. Later he beats the woman while finally Wil and Lode interfere. They try to stop him, but since he is about to shoot Lode, Wil accidentally thrashes his head against an iron rod.
Feldgendarm dies right at that moment, and the boys together put his body inside a manhole. They do not know anything about the Jewish family as they head toward their homes. Both of their families are in shock seeing their sons in such shape. The families behave differently as Wil’s family seeks help from one Chaim Litzke while Lode’s family starts monitoring every move that Wil makes.
How does Yvette help Wil and Lode?
As time progresses, Wil starts to understand what mistake he has committed. The very next day, Gregor Schnabel, a German higher-ranked army official, leads the investigation of the missing soldier. Wil brings Chaim Litzke to show the body of the dead soldier, but he is not able to find it. Lode, on the other hand, understands that his family, especially his sister Yvette, is losing confidence in Wil, and so they want to surrender him to the authorities.
Lode then asks Wil for dinner and there he tries to make a strong bond between Yvette and Wil. Together, they start sharing information and collecting it in case they need a backup plan. Later, it is revealed that Wil has securely kept the Jewish family from that night right under Chaim’s nose. There is a secret room in Chaim’s house where he has kept them. Lode also confirms that it was his family that dumped the body of the German soldier.
Soon, seeing Wil’s efforts to make Jews’ lives better, Yvette, along with Lode, decides to make him a member of the resistance. Wil and Yvette even search Chaim’s room to find out where the Germans will raid next to arrest the Jewish people. Together, they are able to save many Jews as a romantic relationship starts to grow between them. Then, at a party, Wil sees that Gregor is sitting with his aunty. Wil has already witnessed Gregor’s cruelty, as he can go to any extent to bring forth the truth behind the disappearance of the German soldier.
How does Gregor find Feldgendarm’s Body?
At the party, Gregor manipulates Wil so much that he almost finishes a bottle of alcohol in a matter of minutes. Wil is unable to find his strength to even stop Gregor’s right hand man from teasing his lover, Yvette. He even goes to the extent of saying things like where the German soldier’s body is dumped. Well, he was not shouting or screaming as such. However, Yvette doubts that his blabbering will work against them.
Just as Yvette thought, the next day, the Germans found the body of Feldgendarm, and it was the blabbering that helped them find it. Later, Gregor tells Wil that he has found the list of work refusers that Feldgendarm was supposed to arrest that night. He will now pursue those Jewish families so that the killer is caught in an instant. However, the interesting thing was that Gregor already knew who had killed Feldgendarm. But since he was not after the killer but the whole of the resistance, he was playing along with Wil. He even killed Officer Jean to protect Wil and Lode.
Later, Chaim finds out about the Jewish family that was hiding in close proximity. Chaim asks Wil to shoot them so that he can be forgiven for his mistakes. However, the woman suddenly attacks Chaim, killing him with a sharp object. After that, Wil, with the help of Yvette and Lode, makes three fake passports to send the Jewish family to a different place. But sadly, the family is caught and killed by Gregor’s men. The leader of the resistance is caught even as he reveals the involvement of Wil, Lode, and Yvette in protecting the Jews.
Wil (2023) Movie Ending Explained:
Is Wil Able to Save Yvette?
Gregor plans to arrest all the Jews in a particular place on the night he offers an escape route for Wil and his friends. This was not generosity. The only way to survive was to arrest the Jews they had spent days protecting. Anyway, Wil sees the determination in Yvette’s eyes, so he gives her the wrong address where the raid will take place and stops Lode from joining her.
While Yvette goes to help the Jews, Wil stays back, knowing that to survive this with his friends, he must oblige to the orders, which involve arresting the Jewish people, and Lode must be there beside him. Inside, Wil thinks that at least Yvette, along with the resistance, will be saved as there will be no raid in that area, according to Gregor. But fate has other ideas.
When they start arresting all the Jews from the locality, Wil sees Yvette from afar and sees her running away. Yvette knows she cannot fight against the whole army. However, she can definitely deny suffering in silence. Yvette stands in front of a running train and gives her life, while Wil sees that from not very far away. Wil tries his best to save all three of them, but history is always unforgiving in nature. In times of war, there are only two kinds of people that history remembers. Wils are remembered as cowards, and Yvettes are celebrated as martyrs.
But at that moment, history is the last thing Wil is worried about. The only thing he cares about the most is to survive the night without getting killed along with Lode. Yes, he fails to save Yvette, but the brutality he has witnessed so far, getting killed, is not at all an option for him.
