What Happened At The End Of...Donnie Darko?

First things first this is a new format I'm trying, I'm calling it "What happened at the end of...?" in these posts I will try and explain what happened at the end of particularly ambiguous films. So with the introductions out of the way lets start.

Donnie Darko is a film I've been wanting to review for a while, but a review of this film would be rather short as I like to avoid major spoilers in my reviews and you can't talk about Donnie Darko without bringing up some critical plot points. So for this piece I'm going to assume you've seen Donnie Darko and obviously spoilers ahead.

---

Donnie Darko is a film which has been carefully made to make sure that there are many different explanations for what happens at the end. Thankfully the directors cut does hint towards one of these endings so that's the one I'll be working from.

This explanation requires looking closely at the book Donnie receives from his teacher, "The Philosophy Of Time Travel" written by Roberta Sparrow or Grandma Death as the film also called her.

This is where things will start to get complicated so back out now if your not prepared for a lot of time travel speak. Ready. OK.

For this explanation we are going to assume there are two universes, The Primary Universe (The one we live in now) and The Tangent Universe (The parallel most of the film takes place)

The Philosophy of time travel states that time is usually a stable construct but every now and then it can be corrupted which will create a tangent universe, tangent universes are highly unstable and will only last for a few weeks before imploding in on themselves. However there is the danger that a collapsed tangent universe could create a black hole capable of destroying the primary universe.

We see these events happen in the movie, on October 2nd a tangent universe is created and the next 28 days are set in this alternate universe, shortly after the tangent universe is created Frank wakes Donnie and lures him out of the house, minutes later a jet engine falls onto the Darko house. It is important to note that the tangent universe was not created by the engine falling or Frank waking up Donnie we are already in the tangent universe when those events occur.

Now onto The Artifact, according to the philosophy of time travel when a tangent universe is created an artifact will also appear, this artifact is the first sign that a tangent universe has been created, another thing the book tells us is that artifacts are always made of metal and in our case the artifact is a jet engine. Both the film and book never disclose where the artifact comes from but I think its due to the tangent universe being a direct copy of the primary universe and everything in it there were two jet engines created and as one had nowhere to go it fell over where the tangent universe was created, the Darko house.

It is the artifact that makes the tangent universe so unstable as it cannot handle having the duplicate object within it, in order for the tangent universe to collapse without creating a black hole then it must go back to being a direct copy of the primary universe. The removal of one of these duplicate jet engines will allow the tangent universe to safely collapse in on itself. The only way to remove an artifact is to send in through a portal back into the primary universe.

Next when a tangent universe occurs with an artifact a living receiver is often chosen at random, it is clear that in this case the living receiver is Donnie, this may have been because Donnie was at the center of the creation of the tangent universe. The purpose of the living receiver is to guide the artifact out of the tangent universe.

The living receivers are often blessed with some kind of supernatural powers during their time as a living receiver to help them guide the artifact out. Some of these powers include increased strength, mind control, the ability to conjure fire and water and telekinesis. Throughout the film we see Donnie use all of these abilities for example, he uses strength to bury the ax in the school water pipe and the bronze statue, he uses fire to burn down Jim Cunningham's house, he floods the school and creates a time portal from water and finally he uses telekinesis to rip the engine off the jet plane to send it back through the portal. At first Donnie is not aware of what he must do but as the film continues he becomes more aware of what he must do.

Alongside the living receiver there are the manipulated dead, anyone connected to the living receiver who dies in the tangent universe becomes manipulated dead, these people are very powerful and have the ability to talk to the living receiver through a fourth dimensional construct. Frank is killed in the tangent universe and therefore becomes one of the manipulated dead, he travels back in time to help Donnie to remove the artifact, the first thing he must do is wake up Donnie to ensure that he is not crushed by the jet engine.

As well as the manipulated dead there are the manipulated living, these are all of the people connected to the living receiver and are subconsciously helping to guide the living receiver. They will act in a way that will push Donnie towards his eventual destiny. There is a driving force behind the action of the manipulated living however neither the film or book tell us what that force is. Fans speculate that God could be the driving force as the film uses lots of religious imagery and often points to the idea that you follow God's channel to decide your own fate.

Next we get to perhaps the most important part, the ensurance trap, the philosophy of time travel states that both the manipulated dead and manipulated living will guide the living receiver into a situation where they have no choice but to guide the artifact out of the tangent universe and back into the primary universe. The philosophy of time travel calls this the ensurance trap. This is basically the role that all of the manipulated play in guiding Donnie to complete his mission, if Donnie fails then they will die as well.

Frank tells Donnie to flood the school which in turn leads to Donnie walking Gretchen home and asking her to be his girlfriend. This event is not just a coincidence but is specifically put in place as part of the trap.

Gretchen plays a crucial role in the trap, remember that Donnie only meets and falls in love with her in the tangent universe, he is given someone to love and then she dies, Donnie is so upset at Frank for killing her that he shoots Frank dead. This action has now created the manipulated dead Frank, the person that has been guiding Donnie to do all of these things.

The trap that the manipulated have set is a success, Donnie has been 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 and now only has one way out even if it will ultimately end his life. Sending the engine back through the portal will return time back to the 2nd of October, back to when Gretchen was still alive.

Finally at the end of the film we see a vortex over Donnie's house, this is the beginning of the tangent universe's collapse, the plane with the exact same jet engine has been manipulated to fly over this exact time, Donnie uses telekinesis to tear off the engine and creates a portal from water to guide the engine back to the primary universe.

Now we see parts of the last 28 days rewinding as the tangent universe starts to unravel, the tangent universe has safely collapsed and the primary universe that was on pause has started back up from where it was stopped, on October 2nd, the events of the last 28 didn't happen. Donnie wakes up laughing after dreaming about some of the events form within the tangent universe, the experience has brought him seemingly closer to God and he is no longer afraid to die. The jet engine that he sent through the time portal then falls onto his bedroom, killing him.