Deliverance: Need Help with this Movie

[Catch22Dem]

It's an OK movie. Yes, it's shocking...especially for 1972, but when you get right down to it, there's not much dialog, not much violence (other than the obvious) and not much action. It's 4 guys riding canoes down the river. There's one car chase, one hillbilly rape scene, two murdered hillbillies, one murdered camper, one compound fracture. I thought everyone was great in the movie. I completely forgot that was Ronnie Cox!

So, my question is, near the end, just before Jon Voight and Ned Beatty leave town (I assume Burt Reynolds stays in the hospital for a while) Jon Voight walks off to the side, peers through the trees, and sees tons of pine box coffins being buried and what appears to be dozens of hillbillies. I get the whole movie, but that scene throws me. WTF?