And I'll admit, the first time I saw this movie I did not understand the ending at all. But after a second viewing, I not only enjoyed more, but I gained a firmer grasp on what the Coens were attempting to say with the ending. Granted, this is my interpretation of it. There could be several other ways to look at this scene. But this is how I see it...
So in the first dream, Sheriff Bell says that he met his father in town and he gave him some money. Then Bell mutters "I think I lost it." This last line is significant because it ridicules the idea that money is worth dying for. Bell makes money sound worthless and arbitrary. Which is what the entire plot has been based around up to this point (It could be considered the McGuffin).
The second dream is a little more complicated, so I won't recap everything in it, but my analysis of it is this: The landscape that Bell is describing with his father in it is Heaven. But it's described as a cold and barren place. His father is wandering around with his head down and caring fire with him to keep him warm. I believe this is refuting the idea that the afterlife will make everything "ok". Bell experiences the dream-like hopefulness of Heaven, but then he "wakes up" and snaps back into reality. That's why the screen goes black in a heart-beat after Bell utters these words. It reveals the extremely sudden and anticlimactic reality of death and what occurs after the sudden blackness.
I realize this analysis of the ending is very bleak and harsh, but hey, it's the perfect ending to a very bleak and harsh film.
