Movie Explanation
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commentsFirstly this explanation is written assuming that you've seen the film. There are spoilers throughout so it could ruin the enjoyable experience of watching it for the first time.
The film has been carefully made so that there are multiple explanations to what happens. With the release of the director's cut some of the ambiguity has been taken away and the director's true version of the story becomes clearer. The explanation heavily revolves around the book Donnie gets from his teacher, "The Philosophy of Time Travel" written by Roberta Sparrow (Grandma Death). The book is a fictional one but some of the pages were in the film's web site and included into the director's cut version of the movie. You can read those pages here.
PU = Primary Universe (The Universe we exist in now)
TU = Tangent Universe (The parallel Universe that most of the film is set in)
PoTT = Philosophy of Time Travel
Tangent Universe
The PoTT states that time is usually a stable construct but every now and then the fourth dimension gets corrupted. When this happens it creates a TU which is highly unstable and will only last a few weeks before it collapses in upon itself. There is a danger that when the TU collapses it could cause a black hole capable of destroying the PU as well.
This is what happens in the movie, there is a corruption in time and at midnight on October 2nd a TU is created. The next 28 days are now set in this alternate reality. Shortly after the TU starts Frank wakes Donnie up and lures him out of the house. A few minutes later a huge jet engine falls though the rip in time and lands in Donnie's bedroom.
It is important to remember that the TU is NOT created by the jet engine or Frank waking up Donnie. We are already within the TU when both those events occur. Unfortunately we never find out what caused the TU to begin, it's just an unexplained phenomenon.
The Artifact
According to the PoTT when a TU is created an Artifact will also spontaneously appear. The Artifact is the first sign of evidence that a TU has been created and are always made from metal. In this case the Artifact is a giant jet engine.
Where the Artifact originally comes from is never disclosed. It was most likely created as the TU was being formed. The TU is an exact copy of the PU with one of everything copied into it. During the copying process there was a glitch and two jet engines were formed. The second engine has nowhere to go as it already exists so it's just dumped where the TU began, over Donnie's house.
The Artifact makes the TU unstable; it can't handle having the anomaly of a duplicate object within it. In order for the TU to unravel without forming a black hole it must once again be an exact copy of the PU. By removing one of the duplicate jet engines it will balance out the Universe allowing the TU to collapse safely. The only way to remove the Artifact is to send it through a portal into the PU.
The Living Receiver
When a TU occurs with an Artifact then a Living Receiver is also chosen. This person is chosen seemingly at random and in this case Donnie is the chosen one. As Donnie was at the epicentre of the TU this is most likely why he was selected. The Living Receiver's mission is to guide the Artifact out of the TU.
This person is usually blessed with some supernatural powers during their time in the TU to help them with their quest. Some of these include increased strength, mind control, the ability to conjure fire and water and telekinesis.
- He uses strength to bury the axe into the school water pipe and solid bronze mascot.
- He uses fire to burn Jim Cunningham's house down
- He floods the school and constructs a time portal from water.
- He uses telekinesis to rip the jet engine off the plane to send it through the time portal.
Donnie is not aware of his responsibilities at first though and he doesn't even know he is within a TU. As his journey continues he slowly starts to realise what is going on and what he must do.
Manipulated Dead
Anyone connected to the Living Receiver who dies in the TU becomes Manipulated Dead. These people are very powerful and have the ability to move through time and talk to the Living Receiver through a Fourth Dimensional Construct. They also have some knowledge of the impending disaster and help guide the chosen one.
Frank is killed in the TU and therefore becomes one of the Manipulated Dead. He travels back in time and helps Donnie with his quest to return the Artifact. The first thing he must do is save Donnie by waking him up before he gets squashed by the jet engine. He is like a reverse ghost who appears before he was killed. Gretchen is also Manipulated Dead but she doesn't appear to Donnie in the same way as it might be to confusing for him.
Manipulated Living
All the people connected to the Living Receiver are the Manipulated Living and these people will subconsciously help guide the Living receiver. They will behave in the exact perfect way necessary to push Donnie toward his eventual destiny. Nearly every event in the film has a specific purpose designed to aid Donnie to save the Universe.
There is a driving force behind the Manipulated's behaviour... although we never find out what it is for sure. God is one of the most popular ideas mooted, the film does use religion at many points. The story uses lots of religious symbols and often points to the idea that you follow God's channel to decide your own fate. This guiding force is moving all the Manipulated characters around like pieces on a chessboard, making a sequence of events that will lead to Donnie's success. The Universe is in grave danger and this guiding force has stepped in to help save it.
The Ensurance Trap
The PoTT states that all the Manipulated are trying to lure the Living Receiver into a trap so has no choice but to send the Artifact out of the TU into the PU. The PoTT calls this the Ensurance Trap (old English) . This is effectively the role all the Manipulated play, they are trying to save themselves by guiding Donnie to complete his mission. If Donnie fails they die as well.
Frank tells Donnie to flood the school which in turn leads to Donnie walking Gretchen home and him then asking her to be his girlfriend. This event is not just coincidence; it's specifically put in place as part of the trap.
Gretchen plays a crucial role in the trap, remember Donnie only meets and falls in love with her within the TU. He is given someone to love then she dies. He's so upset at Frank for killing Gretchen he shoots him dead. This has now created Manipulated Dead Frank, the person guiding him to do these things. He must create Manipulated Dead Frank in order to be saved himself in the beginning.
The manipulated have now successfully set the trap. Donnie was saved from death and is now in a desperate situation. His girlfriend is dead and he's a killer on the run. He knows what his purpose is now and only has one way out even though it will ultimately end his own life. Sending the engine through a portal will erase the last 28 days from history and time will return to October 2nd... back to when Gretchen was still alive.
The End of the Film
At the end of the film we see a vortex appear over Donnie's house. It's the beginning of the TU collapse and is centred over where it began. Donnie is aware of what he must do now so he drives up the mountain for a better vantage point. The plane with the same jet engine has been manipulated to fly overhead at this exact time. Donnie rips the engine off using telekinesis, constructs a time portal from water and guides the engine through it.
We now see parts of the last 28 days rewinding as the TU starts to unravel. The TU has collapsed safely and the PU that was on pause starts back up from when it stopped. We are now back in reality on October 2nd, the last 28 days never happened. Donnie wakes up in his bed laughing after dreaming some of the events within the TU. He then goes back to sleep seemingly content with life now. The experience has seemingly brought him closer to God and he is no longer afraid to die. The jet engine Donnie sent through the time portal now falls into his bedroom killing him.
Dreams
Even though the last 28 days never actually happened some of the Manipulated will be haunted in their dreams by their experiences within the TU.
There are bits of evidence to prove this. Frank touching his eye in the final montage and Gretchen waving to Donnie's mum proves that some of the characters have some knowledge of what happened within the lost world.
We see Jim Cunningham crying in the montage as he wakes up... clearly disgusted with himself. Ten days later he clears out his child pornography dungeon and shoots himself on the 14th hole of the golf course... his dirty secret is never revealed.
Final Remarks
Many people assume Donnie has to die otherwise the TU would start over again. From a scientific point of view Donnie's death is not relevant at all , the corruption is already fixed before he dies and if he got up and avoided death then nothing would change. The PoTT tells us of previous Receiver's who died after the Artifact was returned but we only hear about them because their death defies logic. Any Receiver's who escaped death would go completely unnoticed.
It's almost certain Roberta Sparrow was a Living Receiver in a previous TU and that is how she came to write the PoTT. She survived her experience proving that the Receiver doesn't always have to die.
This film does blend science and religion together so his death may emphasise him as a saviour and his belief in God. In death Donnie's role as the Living Receiver seems even greater than before.
Other common questions concern the Artifact Donnie sends through the portal at the end of the movie. Many people ask why the PU is not in danger now it has a duplicate object with it. It seems to be the case that the issue of duplicate objects is only a concern once the Universe they're within starts going through the collapsing process. The PU is a stable linear time-line that never goes through a collapsing process so is therefore never in any danger from duplicate objects.
As stated above the Arrtifact is not the cause of the TU, it's just a by-product of it. This is why there is no danger of another TU starting up once Donnie sends his Artifact through the portal at the end of the movie.
- You can read more about some of the contentious parts of the movie by clicking here
- You can compare with some of the alternative explanations by clicking here
Great movie and thanks for the explanation
So the girl never loved donnie? she did it because she died if he didnt go back and die in the jet engin accedent?
i love this movie very well made
i love this movie very well made
I loved it! But Im so confused :(
The Movie was excellent. I watched the DVD 5 times w/o the commentary and once with it. I watched the deleted scenes with and without commentary. I believe that in the beginning of the movie Donnie D. was afraid to die. By the end he was okay with his death because he knew the reason for his death was to make the PU a better place for everyone else. A place he never fit into exactly.
I also watched S. Darko that came out in 2009. That movie had one PU and two TU's. And had Roberta's Grandson, that is if she ever became a mother ???
Your explanations have some sound reasoning but far from clear ! donnie did not have telekinetic abilitys. Or any others they said time travel in a universe with god .basically saying time travel is a limited capacity. That means god would have limited powers to put things in check . god or the universe itself used frank to manipulate Donnie as a first try to set things back in the primary universe. But if you read any book on theoretical physics of time travel time travel is far from a exact science frank is a finger print sent back to guide him but the frank death bunny is far from a puppet and definitely not his friend he's torturing Donnie for his death in this TU future and purposely guides him from the room! And influences his him through #1 to do the job .#2 for revenge ! He guides him to commit crimes and shows him just enough to enlighten him to what is going on and how much pain he will cause if he doesn't cross back into the last wormhole before time collapse and end time .but the grandma death theory is close . Donnie was never supposed to be born and the one thing I am not sure of is how he was but grandma death is responsible for him being born. She is as much responsible for the TU as Donnie she infact she is the one that has manipulated time then refused to completely fix her time in the primary universe she either refused or could not ! I would say she knows his future she is the one with the powers and she is the one controlling frank but he could not be controlled fully that's why he pulled him out before the engine hit! No one runs around in a death bunny costume when they could appear to be dressed in anything unless they are trying to giving that person a feeling of despair! He had all the memories of frank and sparrow but at this point he didn't care about doing a quick job he did this stretching of his fate out of revenge but still completed his job . Donnie in his whole life was only 28 days he never came into existence after Sparrow did not fix things totally that's how it seemed to be so long because this was the time were his life would began to collapse the primary universe and this or were the to universes collide to end them both. I just wanna know her story of how she discovered time travel what she changed to screw up the primary universe .and what she fixed .she looks so screwed up because she is still in shock she is not finished or thought she did enough and kept him alive .but his new destiny was just farther down the line !
Easily one of the best films ever made
donnie darko has many layers to it. very deep and interesting movie to watch. just dont get caught up in trying to disect every part of the movie. it is in that that u will not be able to enjoy it for what it really is, a piece of awesome entertainment.
ILLUMANATI!!!!!
Interesting review of what happened! It helped a lot. Although the only thing I would have to disagree with is the whole religious thing having to be involved. I say the universe just helped correct itself..no 'higher power' required. Otherwise, good review!
Amazing film, even better explanation
Great website. Thank you for explaining. I'm off to watch the movie again now that I understand it more.
i only commented so that theres not 666 comments now theres 667 comments idk why it just bugged me. shivers.
I'm glad the site explained the movie, it makes more sense to me now. I really enjoyed it, and these explanations about it. -Thanks!
Okay guys.
How about we just state the simple fact here.
NO ONE will ever really understand this movie. Well, besides the director. Its too complicated. There are so many freaking explanations to this movie, yet no one can seem to choose ONE.
Why can't we just enjoy the film? Why does there have to be an explanation? Its an amazing film and everyone has let that slip out of their hands by being so confused. Oh flippidy doo. Deal with it. It gives you more reasons to watch the film over and over again. (;
-Isabella Rose-marriee
Hello Kat,
Jims suicide isn't in the film. It was on the website.
I never saw the scene where Jim Cunningham shoots himself, is that just in the UK version?
there are some points that doesn't fit, right? did you ever thought about that scene with Donnie and Gretchen at the movie, when Donnie asks Frank "why are you wearing that stupid bunny suit?" and Frank replies "why are you wearing that stupid man suit?". i think this can mean that Donnie isn't human, he's like an angel or something.
when he gets scared and cries in Dr. Thurman's office that is when his true soul came to surface. he already knows what is happening and he is frightened.
when Gretchen asks him "Donnie Darko? What the hell kind of name is that? It's like some sort of superhero or something", Donnie says "what makes you think i'm not?" shows again that he knows who he is.
um....aw. and Frank, the bunny, is from the future.
(Donnie:
Where did you come from?
Frank:
Do you believe in time travel?)
he laughs before he dies, not because he will be free of punishment (he killed Frank), but because he's going Home (wherever that is), he reached his goal, he finished his business on Earth.
well, i haven't seen yet the director's cut. i'll watch it tonight. this explanation is interesting, i mean, it fills some empty spaces in my own theory, the way i've seen the movie. but i think it's incomplete. um...sorry about my bad english, if there is some mistakes.
and man thank you for making this site
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