The final moments of the Accused leave a lasting impression. Even though Chaneil Kular does not reprise his role as Anwar in Sex Education’s final season, his new role in Accused grabs attention in a chilling story directed by Philip Barantini, known for Boiling Point. Accused is a tense near-real-time thriller.
It follows Harri as he becomes wrongly accused of a train bombing in London after a social media-driven witch hunt. When two people take matters into their own hands to find Harri at his parents’ house where he is dogsitting.
A fight for survival and justice in the final moments (Photo: Accused/Paramount Pictures in association with Jaffe-Lansing)Harri finds himself fighting not only to clear his name but also to survive the violent vigilante duo that seeks his demise. The story builds to an explosive finale, and now let’s break down the ending of Accused.
Accused Ending Explained
After Black Mask (played by Jay Johnson) and White Mask (Robbie O’Neill) break into Harri’s house and kill the family dog, Harri manages to escape and seeks refuge at his neighbor’s home. However, Mrs. Daly (Frances Tomelty), who is a racist, believes the reports on the radio that Harri is a terrorist.
Although she pretends to help him, she signals his pursuers, leading to Black Mask arriving at her house. While it seems Black Mask is about to overpower Harri, the latter fights back fiercely and manages to kill him with a hammer.
Harri then leaves Mrs. Daly’s house and heads for a car, but as he takes a break, White Mask catches up with him. White Mask begins livestreaming Harri’s attempted apology for the bombing he didn’t commit, taking pleasure in tormenting him.
Harri, trying to escape, climbs into the treehouse in his parents’ garden — a location previously shown as run-down. This proves to be to White Mask’s disadvantage, as he follows Harri into the treehouse, only to fall through the rotting floorboards and become impaled.
As Harri prepares to leave, White Mask pleads with him not to leave him to die, but Harri simply walks away. The next scene cuts to a news report revealing the real bomber to be a 28-year-old white man named Paul Lock.
A Chilling Tale of Mistaken Identity and Relentless Pursuit
In sharp contrast to Harri’s portrayal, the news refers to Paul as a “harmless and kind, gentle soul” — a stark commentary on the racial biases explored in the film. While Harri is immediately seen as a terrorist based on his appearance, Paul’s true identity as the bomber is ignored, as his teachers claim they could never imagine him being capable of such an act.
A week later, Harri is seen being interviewed by a reporter (Kimberley Marren, who the film is dedicated to). The reporter asks, “A lot of people will have assumed that your life has gone back to normal, so to start, I want to know how you feel about that?”
Though Harri’s response is not shown, it’s clear that his life cannot return to normal. We see his anxiety as his phone buzzes with a new notification, a reminder of the avalanche of messages he received during the online witch hunt that wrongfully accused him.
While we see the anonymous individuals who accused Harri delete their posts, it’s evident that Harri cannot simply erase the trauma caused by the online attack.
