Ziam Ending Explained: What Does The Zombie Apocalypse Mean?

Among all the dystopic versions of the world that we are presented with, a zombie apocalypse is the most gory, violent, and threatening version. With the world rapidly declining into a spiral of rise in population, shrinking food sources, and a looming climate crisis, human transformation into inhuman creatures is not too far from reality. The rationale of zombies is survival in a world that has scarcity of food. For them, fellow citizens have turned into food– it is almost like the symbolic snake eating its tail. Ziam is an action-packed zombie flick, but it also touches the deeper core of human existence in the face of the climate crisis, and industrialization of the limited resources available to humanity.

Spoilers Ahead

What Is The Movie About?

The plot is set in a near future world where the Antarctic glaciers have melted, releasing bacterias into the genes of fishes in the ocean and other creatures. The world looks bleak with no farmlands. Cities have turned into dusty ruins. The majority of the population are surviving using insects as protein sources. The insects are being bred into insect farms, yet they are difficult to obtain for poor people. There are already inhuman levels of forceful conflicts breaking out among humanity, as they try to ensure the bare minimum resources for survival. On the other hand, there is an industrialist called Mr. Vasu who had been producing fishes in a lab, genetically modifying them and labelling them safe to eat. Mr. Vasu’s wife has been in a coma for the past five years, and he had declared the fish liver safe enough to be consumed by her as well. The liver is served, but when a person consumes it, they break into convulsions and black bile. After a visceral reaction, he is taken to the hospital, where he turns into a flesh-eating zombie.Rin and Singh are a young couple who are the protagonists of the film. Singh tries to do odd jobs in this bleak landscape to fend for themselves, while Rin is a doctor at the hospital. On the day of the zombie infestation, Rin goes to the hospital as usual, with her friend Mink and Mink’s son, Buddy. The hospital is locked in from the inside after the zombie apocalypse spreads out, however Singh forges his way in to save Rin. While Rin, Buddy, and Mink try to escape from the zombie attacks in the dark corridors of the hospital, preparations to rescue Vasu are under process. The film becomes a brave tale of survival, throwing a question: who survives when the world has turned violent upon its residents?

What Does The Apocalypse Mean: the Source, the Symbol, and the Outcome

The source of the apocalypse is stated at the very beginning– it is the microorganisms released from the Antarctic ice. This is a real threat– with the temperature rising, the ice caps are melting, releasing dormant bacterias into the sea. The organism may have entered the body of a fish which Mr. Vasu was serving through his company. This is a real-life threat that may happen if the greenhouse gases and carbon emissions are not checked while there is still time. In short, we may just be laying the foundation in real time which makes the horrific future in the film possible.

Coming to the symbolism, the zombies have been used as a popular bodyhorror motif in media; but “Ziam” informs the motif with an awareness. Even before the zombies came into the picture, the underprivileged classes in the film were fighting the same war over food, attacking each other ferally and shedding blood. Mr. Vasu’s elite food source turns out to be a dangerous element– showing the hollowness of privilege. If the earth is dying, no amount of privilege or financial resources can protect you from turning into a prey into the gaping hole of the planet earth. Mr Vasu’s wife is also attacked by zombies in the middle of the film, and while all preparations are made for their rescue, he is unable to escape with his wife. While situations turn extreme, the class identity of people fade in front of survival instincts. 

Although the zombie apocalypse looks like a violent motif, it is a way for the earth to purge itself. It is like the endgame, where half of the population immediately needs to vanish for the earth to take a breath. The image of the earth that we see in the film is a dusty ruin, with greenhouse gas polluting the atmosphere, and people dying on the streets. The only things to have survived are insects– roaches who have lived through all periods without evolving. However, the earth is at a brink where their survival is also being threatened since humans have started making them into meals. We see fights break out over the possession of insects, thievery where people are stealing insects from farms.

Is Vasu Really a Villain?

This is a question that we need to ask ourselves– Vasu is a capitalist entrepreneur who tries to make the best of the situation by leveraging his power, money, and resources. He did what he could under the guise of welfare. He is not necessarily trying to exploit a class, but he is trying to provide food in a world where the supply is way lesser than the demand. Naturally, the ones who gain access to the supply chain are the ones who have the currency to survive in the system. Additionally, Vasu has no way of knowing that the fish liver was infested with the genome. He is just another capitalist who happens to be a catalyst to transmute a vicious horror to reality. The root of the horror was laid way before when the humans started taking the climate crisis casually and brutally exploited the earth for its resources. Vasu is as much of a victim as the others are. The film tries to portray him in a sympathetic light as he does not leave his wife’s side when she turns into a zombie. In the end, Vasu is merely consumed by what he started by trying to turn the last living fishes in the world to consumable goods. He can be blamed for the commodification in the immediate sense, but then again, the act that led to this point had begun way earlier. 

What Happens to Rin and Singh?

While the zombie apocalypse is the looming theme of the movie, Rin and Singh drive its central plot. As they navigate their ways through the bloody, dark alleyways of the hospital looking for an escape, the zombies start to multiply in number. Singh rescues Buddy, but soon they witness Mink turn into a zombie. While Singh only came to rescue Rin, protecting Buddy feels like him standing up for humanity’s future. While they are on the run, they come across Rin who is assigned by Vasu to fetch lifesaving blood for his wife. After a lot of chase and attacks, the three of them try to make it to the roof from where they can be rescued by the helicopter, which was originally coming to rescue Vasu. While Rin and Buddy make it to the roof, Singh gets stuck inside a car and surrounded by zombies. The car explodes soon enough, but surprisingly, Singh survives the explosion by hiding in the water tank. Rin tries to make the rescuers wait for Singh to turn up, but ultimately they take off the premises and the building is burnt to the ground just in time when Singh had reached the rooftop. 

The film cuts to a serene landscape with greenery and clean water. Rin is standing in her village Chiang Dao where the earth has restored its rhythm. Possibly, the apocalypse had purged some of the population from the cities and humans were able to retain the resources in the rural areas under lesser stress. She fidgets with her ring, thinking of letting it go, but then turns to face something which we do not see and takes a pause. The scene cuts again to the ruins of the hospital building where we see Singh rise up from the ashes. The ending of Ziam strongly suggests that Singh has survived. With all the mutations happening in the film, it is possible that Singh had undergone a mutation process that has made him into an invincible man. Singh had perhaps fought off the zombies in Bangkok; from the last look at Rin’s face, it seems like Singh had made a return to her in a cleaner world.

Ziam ends with a hope of a better future, but also the hint of a newer creature in Singh. There is definitely a possibility of a sequel where the film can tell the story of what happened to Singh in Bangkok, how he survived, and if there are others like him on earth who fought zombies alongside.  

...