Donnie

The director (who's what, like 27 years old?) sort of spells things out on the commentary track. If memory serves, his explanation sounded like your second one: Frank saves Donnie from the jet engine, which knocks the spacetime continuum or whatnot off its track, and Donnie is called upon to set things right.

"Someone should write that bitch."

I saw it and it hurt my head. I'm not even going to try and make any sort of sense talking about this one.

The website is by the legendary folks at hi-res.

... OR it's just what it seems like... Donnie screws up everything, and then has the saving grace of realizing that the one way to fix it all is to start over and die instead of live.

That said, I really want that rabbit suit.

We've had this DVD since Christmas and can't stop watching it. I think the soundtrack is just incredible. And the whole John Hughes-esque music montage... man, that's good filmmaking.

Yeah, if you folowo the commentary and watch the deleted scenes you find out that Frank is an Angel who has com eback to Donnie, allowing him to set right the events set in motion, the point was to save the girl.

As Frank said - I can do anything I wanted. And so can you. My skew is that Frank was Donnie's inner narrator, and was there as a guide to help us understand that Donnie had a path to follow. And that path had certain pre-defined (negative) results.

I think he made a decision to sacrifice himself at the end, and the entire movie was just to show what lives he could have changed if he had lived. The last few minutes show the lives of the people that surrounded him, had he not lived past the jet-engine. And that's why he was laughing before the ceiling came down - like the "baby glasses" science project, he had replaced those negative images with positive ones by choosing a different path.

Great movie.

Lot of good insights here -
http://www.ruinedeye.com/cd/

Talk about parallel universes....I watched this film for the first time last night and it has dominated my thoughts all morning. I enjoyed it thoroughly and I think a second viewing might reveal more clues.

It seems almost like the events that followed the accident were a premonition....a fork in time. Perhaps Donnie was given the opportunity to choose a path.

But I guess that doesn't explain the sense of deja vu that everyone seemed to have at the end.

This is a great one and will spawn debate in my house for some time, I think.

If I remember correctly (which I wouldn't trust me to) when you 'complete' the website you get to hear a conversation between two officials investigating the jet engine. They conclude that the plane was no where near Donnie's house and wasn't even supposed to fly until some date in the future. At the end of the movie the engine on his parents plane falls off and Donnie decides to send it back in time through a worm hole. I really should view the site and watch the movie again though.

Another point: when Donnie is talking to Noah in the science lab they skim over the main problem with Minority Report; precrime runs on the assumption that no possible alternative future path can exist but this is proved wrong by the very fact that they can get to people and arrest them before they commit the crime.

I recently watched this video on DVD and highly enjoyed it. But, it left me with many questions about the story. Luckily, the DVD comes with a director's commentary. That helped answer most of my questions.

Also, it's too bad movies like this don't get the accolades that all of the crappy "big budget" movies receive.

I think the time travel occurs within the same universe--the reason they cannot figure out where the jet engine comes from is because at "present" it is still attached to the plane. I think the events of the movie occur in real life as Frank slowly teaches Donnie how to travel back in time. Then, at the end when he realizes that his girlfriend, his mother, and his sister will die unless he chooses to die himself, he is given the choice to accept his current situation or to travel back in time. To me, Donnie Darko is like an inverted It's a Wonderful Life (hee hee, except he gets a bunny named Frank instead of an angel named Clarence). In Donnie's case, however, the world suffers more if he continues to live--Donnie is worth more dead than alive, unlike George. While he waits to be crushed by the jet engine, he's laughing hysterically like George Bailey does near the end of It's a Wonderful Life after he decides that he wants his life back. I love this movie. :)

Why would Frank have saved Donnie if their only other link in any universe is the car accident, which only happened because Frank saved Donnie?

So the "angel Frank" came from a future that didn't exist yet, and his actions created the only future in which an "angel Frank" could exist.

For me, there's no coherant story and this makes it lose all its appeal.

Great soundtrack, editing and cinematography, though.

I didn't realise the director was 27. I had assumed from the (awesome) soundtrack (and just how awesome is opening with The Killing Moon?) that he was my age - mid 30's. Incredible film!

I had no friggin' clue what the movie was about - but I did rent Sexy Beast with Ben Kingsley in it soon after renting Donnie Darko and wouldn't you know it - that movie had a giant rabbit in it too!!!

Wabbits!!!

My interpretation:

The movie "The Last Temptation Of Christ" is about Christ being allowed to return to the cross, after seeing the fate that the world would suffer if he did not die.

Donnie chose to follow the worm hole back to Oct 2nd, so that he is killed by the falling jet engine, instead of spared. This would keep
his girlfriend and his mother alive on Oct 30, since he would never have met his girlfriend, and the battleax teacher would have gone to
CA with the dance team instead of his mother.

I seem to recall that most of the film is pretty clearly spelled out in the diector's commentary and by completing the puzzle of the website. I also seem to recall that hearing the director's explanation ruined a lot of the mystique of the film. Also, the twenty deleted scenes on the DVD are there mostly to remind you why they were deleted. I will say this, though . . . It's one of the few films that spooked the bejesus out of me (them's scary wabbits!) and remained hauntingly fun on multiple viewings. It's about time I watched it again; it's been a while.

ps The most winning moment of the DVD comes while watching the director's commentary of the 'Cunning Visions' video.

A week later, and I still see that blasted rabbit late at night, lurking in the shadows of my dark house when I wake up and walk about.

Donnie's mom is reading Stephen King's 'IT' at the beginning of the movie, and Frank's friend is a clown.

Coincidence?

sigh...

Probably.

.j

I slept on the sofa downstairs for about a week. Damn bunny.

What I am going to say might well be the dumbest interpritation of the film yet, but when Donnie (under hypnosis) thinks he hears the psyhiatrist say that with the world ending so will everythihng that was not him and nothing that he hasn't affected had ever been. Wich I understood as every living being has a personal wourld that revolves around them and without the person there is no existance (for that person). So the parallell chain of events that followed him suviving te crash existed (though simultaniously with the alternative) only for the universe with Dannie in it. The other scenario existed for those alive. This is a sort of a personalized "cat-in-a-box" case only with a slight glitch when an event associated with the universe where the cat is persent leaks into the alternative scenario.
So IMHO the story is a mix of Quantum physics wormhole theories and zen buddhism with a slight pinch of christian dogma. Is anyone reading my ranting ? I hope not.

You, my friend, are a dumbass. The jet engine that crashed on Donnie's house was from the same plane that his mom and sister were on. The jet engine was knocked off in the storm and went through a wormhole back in time and crashed on Donnie's house.I'll finish this later

I think it is straight forward: the jet engine comes from the plane in the future - that Donnie's mother and sister are one, and falls through a worm hole formed by the storm at the end of the film. Although they all go back in time, they all have some memory of what had happened - those deja vu scenes at the end - and Donnie chooses to stay in bed and be killed, firstly to end his torment of mental illness, and secondly because he realises how much he screwed it all up the first time round, and so by dying this time will save the lives of Frank, his girlfriend, his mum and sister. Donnie is led to this decision by greater powers who use Frank dressed as a rabbit, his mental illness, and all sorts of coincidences to help him realise his destiny. In one way he is the town's real messiah - as opposed to Jim Cunningham who is adored by all the adults of the town.

Great film!

How come the big fella, big Donald Darko, chose to stay in bed at the end of the movie? He coulda got out knowing that a jet engine is going to crash into him.
That way if it starts all over again, Gretchen doesnt die, coz he knows he doesn't have to her to the cellar door and his mum and sister dont have to die, coz he knows he shouldnt burn down Patrick Swayze's house, causing authorities to find out he's into kiddie porn, meaning that his mum doesn't go on the plane trip and that teacher does, or whatever, I don't really get this movie.
And when he went back to October 2, he could have predicted stuff that was gonna happen in the next month - eg. Sporting results and he couldve made heaps of money out of it, so I dont know what he was thinking.
Anyway, its a good movie to make you think about life, but it had a bad cast. Shaq should have been Frank, I would have Denzel Washington as Donnie, Mark Wahlberg as his sister, Burt Reynolds as his dad and Vlade Divac as the old lady who's always checking her mail.

Okay the reason you think it needs that cast is due to the that your an Assfuck.

This is the first ever time that I've written anything on the Internet. I've just finished watching this film about a half hour ago. I haven't got too much to say. The person up there (down there?) who talked about Last Temptation is definitely right. I think its plain to see that Donnie is Messianic. All I wanted to say though, is in response to whoever it was who originally asked: why the rabbit? I just automatically assumed that it had most to do with Lewis Carroll's rabbit who led Alice through the looking glass. On a lesser level, it may also allude to "Harvey," Jimmy Stewart's hallucinated six-foot rabbit--which would strengthen the connection between Donnie Darko and It's a Wonderful Life: Harvey was nice; Frank is demonic. Jimmy Stewart sees the future and decides to live; Donnie Darko sees it and decides to die. You dig? Word.

I don’t understand why he couldn’t change the events of the future that he had just lived. They even said if you know the future aren’t you paradoxically able to then change it? Why is he not able to do this? Also, what did he do at the end to enter the worm hole? and why did he never talk to Roberta Sparrow? The website only served to confuse me more by reporting the deaths of such people like the science teacher. As far as I understand, Frank saves Donnie, because the artifact (the engine) has sent him into a different dimension. If Donnie Dies, then the artifact cannot be sent to the correct dimension (which only Donnie can do). If it cannot be sent to the correct dimension then the wormhole will collapse upon itself creating a black hole and destroying the world. So Donnie brings it back, has a chance to move, and doesn’t. I don’t understand why he wouldn’t it seems to me that now he knows the events of the future he can positively affect them…

I don't understand wy donnie wouldallow himself to die. I mean he Could stay and not flood the school that way he wouldn't meet his girlfriend and he could not Burn the Perverts house down thatway only his yougest sister would die so he could brake his sister's legs so she could't go on the trip.then no one he cred about would die

Yeah Donnie Darko is certainly a great movie, full of paradoxes that won't let you stop thinking about it. Another great move to test your intellect is David Lynch's Mulholland Drive, perhaps not quite as confusing but just as effective in the soundtrack and cinematography. If you haven't yet seen it, do so immediately :)

about donnie being messianic, or..whatever...remember at the beginning, when his mom mentioned the kid from hs that died, she said something like...everyone said he was doomed...Donnie could be doomed. Kind of interesting to think back about that comment. Like maybe, it was supposed to happen the way it did. He was supposed to die, so that things could be okay or something? Yeah. I dunno. that comment kind of emphasized that to me

Could it be that the whole "movie" takes place in his head, maybe after waking after a dream (as he is in bed laughing near the end of the movie). Maybe he has just saw the story unfold and is laughing at the bizzarity of the whole thing, but in fact he has accurately seen the engine falling into his room.

I think that what happened is this:
When Frank (imho a malevolent angel, or a ghost who is rather irritated at having been shot in the eye) spoke to Donnie and made him sleepwalk and avoid his own fated death, he made Donnie do something which was against god's destiny. Because of this, there is an inconsistency in the way things should be due to god's plan for life, and this accidentally opens up a hole in spacetime 28 days after the occurrence.
Now imagine there is another dimension, precisely like our one except its 28 days ahead. When the wormhole opens up, it rips through both dimensions, killing Donnies Mom and kis sister, and pulling the engine into the past version, i.e. the one Donnie lives for most of the film. It comes down and lands on Donnies house. Also, in the events of the film, gretchen dies. not so cool.
If Donnie finds a way to go back in time, and make sure that he is where hes supposed to be when the jet lands on his room, then the world is at equilibrium again, and also as a nice benefit, his family and the girl he loves wont die. (personally im happier that it means that that mean teacher WILL die because she took the kids on their Sparkle Magic tour)
There is an added element to this, which means that Donnie does in fact save the world, cause he wont kill Frank, who wont tell him to avoid death, and hell put the world at rest. If he doesnt change things, then 2 copies of the same engine are in the same dimension and are identical and in the same place, that cant happen. The implicit, and also the theory of time travel and stuff if you read a lot of Hawking and others, is that the existence of the same object twice in the same place is impossible and will cause the universe to collapse, so if Donnie doesnt make sure the wormhole doesnt open, and therefore a fuselage would fall through, then the whole universe would kind of go thhpppp and pop.
The moral of the story: Don't cheat death, fate and god. yeah.

It's fairly simple. Donnie's mother and sister are in an airplane that gets sucked into a wormhole. The wormhole's destination is 28 days in the past, in Donnie's bed. The airplane is destroyed but one of the engines reaches the end of the wormhole in Donnie's bed, where it kills him. Just before he dies, he looks into the wormhole and sees the whole future that would have happened unwind in front of him. He laughs because he is happy that he is about to die rather than suffer the future that would have hapened, had he lived.

Superimposed on this whole 'vision' is Donnie's schizophrenia. He still has the capacity to hallucinate in his 'would-be' future, using Frank, the otherwise unimportant character as his guide. Perhaps he chooses Frank because of his knowledge of 'Alice in Wonderland', after all, he is very bright and well read. His illusions of grandure and 'Christ-like' qualities are all simply part of his dillusions.

Donnie doesnt have the choice to live or die, as it is his destiny. He will die, but has the added bonus of being satisfied that his death is good for everyone else's future.

Perhaps his greatest fear of 'dying alone' is conquered; he is about to die with the thought that everyone he knows will be better off, and this is not a lonely death to him. Maybe in the end he really does stop 'looking for evidence' and treats this vision as a gift from God.........

Basically its not that hard to follow if you think about it. Its a very well planed thought out movie and it deserves sum cred. If you think about it long enough it all slides into place. You see that Donnie shoots Frank at the end for running over Gretchin, and in the movies scene, he has a bullet in his face. This could not happen in reality and could only happen thourgh some kind of time travel or non human. This clarifys he is an angel or whatever you want to call it. He comes back from the moments that he killed Gretchin, that the engine fell on Donnie (i began to feel this was a Quentin Tarintino movie) and tells him to do otherwise. At the beggining when the voice called him out of his bed onto the golfing put, this was to stear him away from the falling engine that landed in his room. Also this time travelling theory is prooved in the cinema also. If you wach, Donnie sys: What happened to your eyes?. Obviousley he dosent know that he'll do this yet. Then Frank goes: I am sorry. So sorry Donnie. He is saying sorry for no apparent reason, but then he is saying sorry fro killing Grethin, ths getting shot in the eye. Now, aparently the engine falls from nowhere, but it slipped througha wormhole in tiume that would have happened but didt, because in the end his mum and sister did NOT travel on the aeroplane to the dance competition.

If you are an adult you shouldnt be reading this, i am 13 and understood.

Basically its not that hard to follow if you think about it. Its a very well planed thought out movie and it deserves sum cred. If you think about it long enough it all slides into place. You see that Donnie shoots Frank at the end for running over Gretchin, and in the movies scene, he has a bullet in his face. This could not happen in reality and could only happen thourgh some kind of time travel or non human. This clarifys he is an angel or whatever you want to call it. He comes back from the moments that he killed Gretchin, that the engine fell on Donnie (i began to feel this was a Quentin Tarintino movie) and tells him to do otherwise. At the beggining when the voice called him out of his bed onto the golfing put, this was to stear him away from the falling engine that landed in his room. Also this time travelling theory is prooved in the cinema also. If you wach, Donnie sys: What happened to your eyes?. Obviousley he dosent know that he'll do this yet. Then Frank goes: I am sorry. So sorry Donnie. He is saying sorry for no apparent reason, but then he is saying sorry fro killing Grethin, ths getting shot in the eye. Now, aparently the engine falls from nowhere, but it slipped througha wormhole in tiume that would have happened but didt, because in the end his mum and sister did NOT travel on the aeroplane to the dance competition.

If you are an adult you shouldnt be reading this, i am 13 and understood.

After watching Donnie three times, I think I have to agree most with Dave. I also think its really cool that clues as to the meaning of it all are put into the movie, like 'The Last Temptation of Christ' and Frank being a rabbit like in Alice in Wonderland.

Sara

Has no one understood that no matter what happens, his sister is going to die? Even if it IS the teacher that gets on to the plane, (and not donnie's mother) it still doesnt change the fact that the only reason they are getting on the plane is to take DONNIE'S SISTER to her DANCING!!!

To be different (as I usually am!)my explanation is as follows, and be warned it is nothing like the other postings, but as a famous man once said "reality is only an individuals perception of their external surroundings":

The two main players in the film are Donnie and of course Frank. Both have an insight into the workings of time although Frank has already experienced his alternative reality (the missing eye shows this) whilst Donnie is learning as he progresses.

Logic dictates "Somebody" has sent Frank back for a reason and given him a chance to set things right. Now this is where it gets odd. Frank causes this paradox as he chooses to save Donnie (due to guilt over Gretchens death),by saving Donnie he will be shot in the eye, but chooses to make this sacrafice to set things straight.

If he had let Donnie die as intended he would never have killed Gretchen as they would never have met. Frank made his decision to save Donnie based on the guilt he felt for an action he performed that was yet to happen.He further compounds the situation by using Donnie to still try and set things right causing the mayhem that ensues.

Donnie himself is starting to understand how time and paradoxes now work and finally sacrafices himself for the greater good, which allows Frank to live and the scenario that Frank caused to never happen. Donnie laughs because he HAS to die and only cheated death due to Franks misguided interference.

So yes Donnie is the hero and basically corrects Franks mistake. Frank squandered his second chance at life, but in the end Donnie (who was to die anyway) had a chance to not be lonely anymore and to experience love ect. which without Franks interference would never have happened. The wormhole formed above Donnies house is in fact a rip to link the "Premature" death of Donnie by plane engine to the "actual on time death" of Donnie by plane engine by linking the two alternative timelines. A sort of timeline safety function.

Hope this is useful and anyway it's my opinion and im sticking to it!

I personally do not believe that Donnie killed Frank when he shot him. This explains the state of his eye both at the end and in the theatre scene, and removes the need for divine intervention. Frank tells Donnie he is back via the science of time travel, and demonstrates that he can utilise portals, so one can only assume he survived and has come back in an attempt to right his wrongs - wrongs he inadvertently creates by leading Donnie from the house - a somewhat ironic result, and if we remember correctly the controversial short story was itself an exercise in irony.

Donnie also announces to his therapist he knows how to travel through time, so we must wonder if Frank's involvement and possibly the engine landing on his house - Donnie ponders if he could 'go back and change the bad things', and his miraculous escape seems a good way to remove himself and undo the damage - are not a result of Donnie's involvement later. Or rather his decision not to get involved, thus removing Frank from the equation, therefore he is not saved and Gretchen lives.

no one is saying anything about grandma death...........

actually, i was just about to post about grandma death.
i think she symbolizes donnie's death. if you go to the website, there is an article stating that she died (but you don't see it in the movie, or something).
the reason why i think she IS donnie is because when donnie was talking to the science teacher (or therapist, i can't remember which), he says "i read this book, 'the history of time travel', and a lot of the things [roberta sparrow] described in the book is what i see".

so, if donnie darko dies, and if the website says grandma death dies, then isn't this coincidental? could they be the same person, in a sick and symbolic way? grandma death doesn't play a big part in the movie, maybe that is for the best.

although people see grandma death which proves that she is not just some poltergeist or something, i strongly, strongly believe that her and donnie share some kind of relation. since donnie is supposively this superhero, maybe he can be more than one person? he is, after all, a schizophrenic.

It is all explained here...

http://www.tangent-universe.org/time-travel.html

after reading this it all makes perfect sense...

Donnie is the Living Receiver

Frank is the manipulated dead

The artifact is the jet engine

The manipulated living are those around Donnie

Donnie was living in a Tangent Universe

The real world would have ended if Frank had not made Donnie put the engine back into the real world

Those who were affected by the Tangent Universe, have awoke from a dream like state- some have the memories lingering within their mind, others forget them...

Donnie saved the world, by destroying himself, for those that he loved.

http://www.tangent-universe.org/time-travel.html

Fantastic...

I got to about entry 30 and stopped reading, so sorry here if I'm re-capping.

But everyone seems to miss the point. The word "Irony" is thrown at several places throughout the film and it's all linked by the book, The Destructors which is the key to the plot.

All periods of time run together if you believe in fate, right? Because everything's predecided. So Frank is going to die, whatever so he can come back from his death to meet Donnie. He tries to show Donnie the damage he will cause unless he sacrifices himself to stop it.

But Frank is *NOT* the only person who is guiding Donnie. His English Literature teacher is, too. The book Destructors shows the irony of destroying for creation. Donnie destroys the school water pipes, but it makes people happy. Donnie destroys Jim's house - but it exposes a paedophillia circuit. Donnie destroys Frank - but this lets Frank come back to mentor Donnie a second time round.

But Frank shows him that every destruction has a bad side, that is (of course) except his own. Donnie's destruction will save others by resetting time.

There's also a third person heading him in this direction, the direction of time travel - Grandma Death.

Grandma death - the Ghost of Christmas Past
Donnie's teacher - the Ghost of Christmas Present
Frank - the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

Ok it's not Christmas, but you get the idea. It's Dickens! These three people just Donnie that he can change his errors for the better of others. So he does.

Just watched the movie for the 1st time tonight. Had all kinds of "thoughts" as to what is was about. Read the past 42 comments...and I must say, I agree with all 42.
Especially Hannah's...although, I am an adult. Sorry.

what was the story with the fat chick? whats she got to do with anythin......

I want to know whatever happened to Gretchen's mother? They never said anything about it, and it really doesn't seem to have any relevance.

the film doesn't work!!!!!!!! FRANK, (who mentors donnie through his scizzophrenia), is a ghost created by donnie (who shot him through the eye, hence the one eye) due to franks interference. Therefore frank ultiumately causes his own death by saving donnie.

The ghost FRANK has to exist in order to create himself. That makes absolutely no sense as im sure u can all see.

And any way why would he cause his own death, hes already lived through it once and got shot in the eye.....why the hell would he come back and ensure he got shot in the eye again!!!!!!!!

Okay,
I agree with many of these interpretations-to a point. Which has allowed me to formulate my own hybrid thoughts about this movie which are as follows:
I like the idea that this is an inverted "It's a wonderful life" and I think that that is mostly correct. Donnie is sleeping in his bed and has a preminission: dream, hallucination or otherwise. He sees what is basically the entire movie, and, right before the jet engine crashes into his house, he wakes up laughing at how impossibly wierd his dream was and IRONICALLY (as brought up several times in the movie) does not believe his "future."
BUT. If you read Roberta Sparrow's book... (made up for the DVD) You would come up with a more different and supposedly more correct (because the book is written by the film makers) version of what happened.

Slightly different interpretation, but similar to some. Donnie Darko thematically similar to movies such as David Lynch's Mulholland Dr., Roman Polanski's A Pure Formality, and Adrian Lyne's classic Jacobs Ladder.

From the moment Donnie is told to 'wake up', he is already dead. An unravelling of all his self, both conscious and unconscious takes place, his reality a projection of everything he carries with him, his inner world mixed with the familiar environs of his former outer world. Unable to accept his death(understandibly), he clings to life as if he still lives. However the process of unravelling is unalterable, irreversible and must eventually end with letting go into death, accepting that he is dead.

He clings to life for he mourns a life not lived where his needs like love, his desires, the fear of death itself and being alone in death, feelings left unsaid, everything that is pent up inside must find an avenue to express in order to let go.

Thus the world he inhabits takes on the characteristics of his inner content and conflicts, as well as presences or forces that help him come to terms with his fate. While he clings to life, even benevolent forces appear frightning (Frank) and elicit great pain, reaction and anger at dying, and his world becomes steadily more unhinged and falls apart as his inner self and emotions unravel and play out like a mirror. For example, his fear colours many of the events and interactions with others, but finds it's most ironic and deliberately transparent personification in Jim Cunningham.

Like in a dream, his love, and need for love is personified in Gretchen. Also like a dream, his needs dictate the fantasy of a stranger to Middlesex who is beautiful, who understands and loves him deeply, and who resonates with his pain of loss through her own unusual and extreme circumstances and affliction. Together they dream of replacing horror with beauty. Horror comes inevitably in not yet letting go, but beauty comes in accepting the truth, which brings Donnie great liberation at the end.

I could go on with more elements, but you get the idea. So, in clinging to life, he clings to what can be no more, and ultimately this is results in great suffering and pain - as it all turns to shit, even events which aren't experienced in first person (just like in a dream, where one witnesses elements that make the dream reality, indepenently of actually being there, and independently of temporal sequence).

Moments of letting go intersperse the latter stages: opening to his mothers love, expressing to Charita that the future will be better for her, and of course right at the end where he must follow the 'portal' back in time (in reality the moment he accepts his death and lets go).

A pivotal moment in the movie along these lines occurs in the cinema, when Donnie asks: 'Why do you wear that stupid bunny suit?' and Frank replies: 'Why are you wearing that stupid man suit?' (in other words: 'know that you are dead, you must no longer cling to life')

Anyway, not sure if I conveyed this as effectively as I would have liked, but - whether you believe them or not - these stages of after life are described in Dantes' Inferno, in the various tales of Judgement (naively presented and dumbed down in churchianity as heaven and hell to keep the masses in check etc.), and quite notably, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, which speaks of afterlife wandering in various Bardo states in which the phenomenal contents of ones being and psyche are projected out infront of the recently dead. Those with clarity on their death will begin to feel great light, and surrounded by high beings, those without clarity wonder in hellish worlds of their own making, their fear appearing as demons and frightning aparitions. That is why they get Tibetan Buddhist monks to read the Tibetan Book of the Dead to the dead every day for about 30 days (or maybe more I think), in order to help them through these stages after which they move on to other worlds or take a new incarnation. Uncannily similar to the 28 days etc. in Donnie Darko.

Sorry for the lenght, I have not had time to order my thoughts more precisely. Great movie!!

cheers,

Arjuna

The story seems quite similar to that of the apocolypse to me. From what little I know about the story of the apocolypse there seems many similaities. Donnie would be the child antichrist, which is unknown to anyone (including himself) except Beezlebub (Frank) who's job it is to influence the antichrist (donnie) through visions to complete prophecies in the book of prophecies (The philosophy of time travel) written by an imortal witch (Grandma death or sparrow or whatever). In order to complete the apocolypse In which evil would rain over the world and mortals would all die. In the apocolypse story I read the antichrist had to chose between the evils that exist in everyday life (Patrick Swayzee etc..) or to rid the world of evil by destroying it.

The other uncanny similarities are the party on the eve of the apocolypse and the giant storm that surrounds the town. Also that he is assaulted by human evil and is saved by beezulbub and the four horseman (maybe the winged stallion on the trans am) In order to fulfill the prophecies, In which he choses his own fate and rise to heaven and beelebub the fallen angel has to live eternally in the human world of evil.

Dunno, just a thought but there seems to be some similarities but some holes aswell?

I read all of the posts with great interest. Great movie! I, too, was wondering about Charita, the girl with the earmuffs and the minor speech impediment. What's up with that? And there's that part at school where she removes one of the earpieces of her earmuffs and appears to be listening to a conversation Donnie is having with his science teacher (I think; I haven't seen this movie in a little while and can't remember exact details).

yeah, this movie is great. i didn't really start to make my own decisions on what its all about till i saw it a second time through.

the movie deals with a great number of themes... time travel, death, dreams, etc.
i don't know how many of you have read "The Philosophy of Time Travel" that was given to donnie by his teacher. but you can actually read it online. it helps explain the time travle theme of the movie. i personally like that explanation the best of all but there are an endless number of interpretations.

the movie has been related to alice in wonderland, both characters follow rabbits, alice takes pills that make her crazy and donnie takes pills to make him not crazy.. even though they're placebos as the director tells in the commentary.

ohh and the first time i saw this movie was actually last thursday, OCTOBER 2ND, the same day that donnie gets his visit from Frank... creepy much??? yeah good chance i still think im going to die come this halloween, an if i do... everyone who reads this should know why

every living creature on earth dies alone

yeah, this movie is great. i didn't really start to make my own decisions on what its all about till i saw it a second time through.

the movie deals with a great number of themes... time travel, death, dreams, etc.
i don't know how many of you have read "The Philosophy of Time Travel" that was given to donnie by his teacher. but you can actually read it online. it helps explain the time travle theme of the movie. i personally like that explanation the best of all but there are an endless number of interpretations.

the time travel book also helps explain the gap in how the airplane engine comes from no where if in fact donnie did die the first time it hit.. he was jsut living in his tangent universe and .... ahh!!! so hard to explain, just read the philosophy of time travel... pleeeease.

another interesting tid bit is that it has been related to alice in wonderland, both characters follow rabbits, alice takes pills that make her crazy and donnie takes pills to make him not crazy.. even though they're placebos as the director tells in the commentary.

ohh and the first time i saw this movie was actually last thursday, OCTOBER 2ND, the same day that donnie gets his visit from Frank... creepy much??? yeah good chance i still think im going to die come this halloween, an if i do... everyone who reads this should know why

every living creature on earth dies alone

yeah, this movie is great. i didn't really start to make my own decisions on what its all about till i saw it a second time through.

the movie deals with a great number of themes... time travel, death, dreams, etc.
i don't know how many of you have read "The Philosophy of Time Travel" that was given to donnie by his teacher. but you can actually read it online. it helps explain the time travle theme of the movie. i personally like that explanation the best of all but there are an endless number of interpretations.

the time travel book also helps explain the gap in how the airplane engine comes from no where if in fact donnie did die the first time it hit.. he was jsut living in his tangent universe and .... ahh!!! so hard to explain, just read the philosophy of time travel... pleeeease.

another interesting tid bit is that it has been related to alice in wonderland, both characters follow rabbits, alice takes pills that make her crazy and donnie takes pills to make him not crazy.. even though they're placebos as the director tells in the commentary.

ohh and the first time i saw this movie was actually last thursday, OCTOBER 2ND, the same day that donnie gets his visit from Frank... creepy much??? yeah good chance i still think im going to die come this halloween, an if i do... everyone who reads this should know why

every living creature on earth dies alone

Arjuna, you've got interesting ideas, but what about the fact that people remembered what happened in the tangent universe? That would keep it from benig exclusively in Donnie's mind. Also, Hannah is an idiot.

The first time i saw this movie i was under the influence of some things, and it blew my mind. It gives you so much to think about i dont think there is an exact meaning, you have to interpret the movie your own way. One question that came to mind though was why did Frank save Donnie fomr the plane engine. If he would have let Donnie die, Donnie would not have been alive to shoot him in the face at the end of the movie.

When i said "under the influence of some things", what i ment was that i was roasted off my ass.

Seen the movie, gone through the stuff on the website, read The Philosphy of TIme (see http://www.tonystuff.co.uk/darko-time.htm) and most of it now makes more sense.
But the epilogues on the website (which cover many of the characters) don't mention anything abot his sister still dying in the plane crash. Donnie's death means Gretchen won't die, and his mum won't be leading the trip, but the plane crash itself should still happen regardless of him. And his sister will still be on the plane, with the nasty teacher leading the trip.
Also the plane must have crashed, it it hadn't then it would still be intact, and in the same universe as the engine which killed donnie, the kind of stuff that I assume could end the universe. For the universe to be right it still had to crash on Oct 30, I guess the wreckage would be missing one engine, the one which fell from the sky. But the epilogues on the website only mention the mystery of this engine, not the crash weeks later

On the website you find that Jim Cunningham killed himself about a week later - guilt. That combined with donnie's death would could wreck Sparkl Motion's chances of making the finals (he seemed to be involved with them and Samantha would be upset). So they may all still have lived.

However the final part of the website is a transcript of a phone call (3 years later) about investigations into the engine, they say it's an exact replica of the engine on this plane, which was on the other side of the country on Oct 2. Obviously this implies that there was no crash on Oct 30, or else a connection would have been made. But wouldn't this be a challenge to the stability of the universe - you will have two identical objects in the same universe?

i think the people in the end are shown for there true being... patrick swaysi is cryin showin although he says about fear and love he is actually having problems himself and is condracting himself, the little girl fancies donnie and everyone thinks shes depressed but in the end shes smiling and so on. mother death or watever could she be what donnie doesnt want to become ,alone and isolated. this film was amazin and readin these comments has so helped me figure it out a bit better. i think some of the film is suposed to be self interpretated perhaps i dont know oh and maybe he had met the frank and was makin up the angel thing in his head (scitso watti) its 1 idea ives got i think ill buy the dvd to see the commentaries lol.

i think the people in the end are shown for there true being... patrick swaysi is cryin showin although he says about fear and love he is actually having problems himself and is condracting himself, the little girl fancies donnie and everyone thinks shes depressed but in the end shes smiling and so on. mother death or watever could she be what donnie doesnt want to become ,alone and isolated. this film was amazin and readin these comments has so helped me figure it out a bit better. i think some of the film is suposed to be self interpretated perhaps i dont know oh and maybe he had met the frank and was makin up the angel thing in his head (scitso watti) its 1 idea ives got i think ill buy the dvd to see the commentaries lol.

okay, first of all, frank doesnt just know donnie through the car crash. in hte extended scene of a phone call, with the commentary he says frank is elizabeth (his sister)s boyfriend.

second of all, i think a lot of this movie is a religious undertone. jim cunninghams initials are jc like jesus christ, and donnie doesnt believe in him. which is why the whole movie talks about him being an athiest.

What are you people on? No 41 is totally correct, I know because that's the exact explanation given on the special features of the european dvd. I guess none of you have it!! The only reason he has to send the engine back is to save the real universe from destruction. Simple as that...

did frank get a bad eye when donnie stabed him while looking into a mirror? i am still confused

Ok then, I have a new theory about the whole story, combining some of the stuff you have written. I started to thing of it from the following point of view: everything in the movie is logical. what has to happen before to make it so?
My story starts here: by some cosmic time-space-accident, the jet engine of a plane travels backwards in time while falling, hitting the house of the Darko´s.. but it is not hitting Donnie at all, because he is out sleepwalking at always. So, to repair the damage of space/time, god (or the cosmos or whatever) chooses a living being to bring back the engine.. and it chooses.. Frank! He is nearby, as he just brought Donnie´s sister home. So first, Frank doesn´t realize what he has to do, and after 28 days, when the plane really crashes, everything ends (the world) and starts again with the engine falling into the Darko´s house. This is a classic time loop a la "groundhog day". Nobody is aware of the loop but one person (like in groundhog day), and this person is Frank. So, loop after loop, he learns more and tries to let the time continue after the plane crash. He fails everytime, until he learns about the book of grandma death. Here he is getting hints about the fact, that he has to sacrifice himself together with the artifact of space/time, i.e. the engine. (The guy in groundhog day tried this as well) But before he can do so, he kills Donnie´s girlfriend with a car, who, in turn, kills Frank with a gun.
At this point, Frank failed his quest. He died and was not in contact with the artifact. His knowing "ghost" was seperated from his body, which explains while from now on, there is an unknowing Frank running around PLUS the bunny ghost. After a loop, Frank is unaware of the loop, but not his bunny ghost. He soon learns that god/cosmos has chosen a new savior: Donnie. (Perhaps because it was him who killed the first one.) In some of the following loops, Frank learns a lot about Donnie (I´ve been watching you) and tries to convince him to sacrifice himself. But Donnie is too afraid of death (being alone), and everything Frank does won´t help. Then, the final loop starts, and here is where the film begins. Donnie awakes at the street after sleepwalking, and has a knowing grin on his face. subconcously, he knows that it is starting all over again. In the following night, Frank calls him from his bed (he would have left it anyway) and starts his final plan. He tells him, as always, that the world will end (which is true.. there will be no november this way) In giving him those instructions, he teaches Donnie that sometimes you have to destroy sth. to do good. (like in Destructors). When the loop ends and restarts, Donnie has enough memory left to destroy himself by remaining in bed, thus doing good to the rest of the world by allowing it to finally continue.
I know that´s a lot of speculation, but for me, this is the explanation that covers the biggest part of the the riddles in the movie. tell me what you think about it or where it needs finetuning.