The lost ending lays down an entirely different way of viewing the rest of the film, as it depicts the downfall of man not as a catastrophe, but as the beginning of a new future in which all forms of life are connected and live in harmony. At the same time, this ending is also ambiguous, because the imagery we are seeing is not what has happened, but rather what the ants want the man and woman to see as they are transformed. So are we seeing images of a genuine future liberation or a calculated deception?

I think the "living in harmony" part was implied by showing humans existing alongside plants and animals like swimming alongside frogs at 3:40, a rose opening at 4:33, communicating with a monkey at 4:41 and flying along with and like an eagle at 4:44. The final shot of them standing and looking at the mountain at 5:05 indicates this is all in the future.