The Kitchen ending explained: What happens to Izi and Benji?
The dystopian drama from co-directors Daniel Kaluuya and Kibwe Tavares stars Top Boy's Kane Robinson and newcomer Jedaiah Bannerman.
Following a brief theatrical release, dystopian drama The Kitchen drops on Netflix this weekend, telling a story set in an endangered social housing community in an imagined near-future London.
Co-directed by Oscar-winning actor Daniel Kaluuya and acclaimed short filmmaker Kibwe Tavares, the film stars Kane Robinson as Izi, a resident of the aforementioned community – known as The Kitchen – who is desperate to move to a nicer part of town.
One day, while working a shift at the ecological funeral home where he is employed, Izi meets a young boy named Benji, who is grieving his mother.
It soon becomes apparent that Izi had previously been romantically involved with the woman and that Benji is his son, and so he reluctantly takes him under his wing.
Throughout the film, The Kitchen is frequently targeted by armed police, making it a dangerous place to live, as Izi tries to look out for his son.
More like this
If you're wondering what happens at the end of the film, read on to have The Kitchen ending explained - with major spoilers to follow.
The Kitchen ending explained
After their first encounter, Benji – not yet aware that Izi is his father – tries to find him again in The Kitchen, but is instead confronted by Staples, the leader of a gang who has just completed a successful truck heist to secure food supplies for the community.
Benji's defiant attitude endears him to Staples, who introduces him to the rest of the gang, but when Izi spots his son soon afterwards, he is clearly concerned about his choice of friends.
Shortly after this sighting, one of the regular police raids on the community begins, and Izi shelters Benji in his room. He eventually agrees to let him stay there for the next two nights, and also takes him to work - where he coaches him to help sell more funeral packages.
By entering your details, you are agreeing to our terms and conditions and privacy policy. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Benji continues to hang out with Staples and his gang during his free time, and this prompts Izi to further warn him about the dangers of keeping this company – but Benji retorts that Staples has been more reliable than he has.
But over the next two nights, Izi and Benji begin to bond, with the former warming to his son and starting to take on a fatherhood role.
This prompts him to enquire about the possibility of a two-bedroom apartment at the complex he is looking to move into, although he is told that this will require him to give up the one-bedroom place he is currently on the waiting list for.
This puts him in an uneasy position, and he soon quarrels with Benji after revealing that the burial service he had promised for his mother – involving replanting a tree – is based on a lie, then denies the truth about being the boy's father.
Eventually, Izi decides to leave The Kitchen and move into the single apartment after all.
During another police raid, The Kitchen's de facto leader and resident DJ Lord Kitchener (Ian Wright) is brutally killed, which crushes the spirit of many residents, who begin to pack their bags and make plans to leave the community, while Staples's gang make revenge plans.
Benji joins Staples and the gang as they break into the luxurious Buena Vida apartment building – the same one Izi has just moved into – and begin to trash it, but it is clear he is rather alarmed by their violent methods and he runs away back to his old home.
There, he finds Izi waiting for him, and although he is initially reluctant to grant Izi forgiveness for abandoning him, this changes when his father pulls out the burial plant of his mother, which he had previously claimed was thrown away.
The pair then head back to The Kitchen to repot the plant in a roof garden just as another police raid begins, which forces them to hide out in Izi's old apartment, where they watch Staples's gang together and the other residents fight back and trap the police.
While they are watching, Izi asks Benji if he wants him to be his dad, to which he replies, "Let's just see how it goes."
The film ends with Izi affectionately putting his hand around his son as we hear the sound of the police threatening to break down their front door.
The Kitchen is currently showing in select UK cinemas and will be on Netflix from 19th January 2024. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Film coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to see what's on tonight.
Try Radio Times magazine today and get 10 issues for only £10 – subscribe now. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
