Kubrick's ambiguous ending

Rating: 10/10 (12 February 1999)

I think that perhaps the most important element of this film is the basic ambiguity of the conclusion. We aren't told what happens to Dax following his tirade to the general, and so forth. The film thusfar has portrayed the politics of the army, but at the end the politics are left hanging.
This isn't the only film where Kubrick does this. 2001 especially relies on the unresolved conclusion, and so does Dr. Strangelove. In all three of these films, this manner of concluding allows the underlying themes of the film to transcend the specific characters. As in 2001, the characters themselves carry little importance as people, they're just bound up in a situation, and the situation more than the characters or the plot is what's important to the film.