"The film proposes that human suffering and ignorance, which is a given, can only be abated through love and self-sacrifice."

Ahhh...  sometimes I can be a dolt..   I wasn't seeing it from this perspective at the end of the movie but it makes perfect sense.  I got the idea that all of the stories were made up of each person's interpretation of what happened but didn't make the explicit connection that the woodcarvers redemption is on account of his acceptance of the child (humankinds love and grace).  I knew there was a message there (thus the reason for the child) but you succinctly summed it up.  Thanks.  