Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
Tarrasque Wrangler said:
I loved the film. Wonderful from start to finish.
Donnie Darko-what the.... (spoilers)
- Thread starter Nightstorm
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I loved the film. Wonderful from start to finish.
Ziona
First Post
My whole take on this movie was that Donnie was going to die because of the jet engine hitting his room (which was from his mom's time traveling plane). But, as he stated several times to his psychiatrist, he didn't have proof that there was a God, and therefore, didn't believe in God.
Frank (who I thought was TERRIFYING) was there to convince Donnie that there was a God before Donnie died.
If you remember the movie, (I only saw it last week), after Donnie is killed by the jet engine, it shows each of the people whose lives he effected when he didn't die. (almost all of them he effected negatively...the teachers lost their jobs because he was talking to them about time travel and because he flooded the school, which made parents think it was the lit they were teaching; he exposed the "fight fear" guy; he inadverdantly killed his girlfriend, killed Frank, etc.) So in a way, Frank was kind of an angel sent to make Donnie believe in God. He convinced him that he wasn't alone, and that when he died, he wouldn't be alone. So, he accepted his fate, died, and saved the lives of others.
That's just my opinion, though.
(BTW, thought it was a great movie!)
Frank (who I thought was TERRIFYING) was there to convince Donnie that there was a God before Donnie died.
If you remember the movie, (I only saw it last week), after Donnie is killed by the jet engine, it shows each of the people whose lives he effected when he didn't die. (almost all of them he effected negatively...the teachers lost their jobs because he was talking to them about time travel and because he flooded the school, which made parents think it was the lit they were teaching; he exposed the "fight fear" guy; he inadverdantly killed his girlfriend, killed Frank, etc.) So in a way, Frank was kind of an angel sent to make Donnie believe in God. He convinced him that he wasn't alone, and that when he died, he wouldn't be alone. So, he accepted his fate, died, and saved the lives of others.
That's just my opinion, though.
(BTW, thought it was a great movie!)
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Mathew_Freeman
Adventurer
Ziona - that is a great summing up of the film. Makes a lot of sense.
DM_Matt
First Post
Just saw it finally...WOW....holy crap. I disagree slightly on the interpretation, though, altohugh I see that I am missing something.
Remember the song at the end "people running 'round in circles...its a mad world" and how Grandma Death would walk in circles all the time. Now add the stuff about how everyone dies alone. Notice how things from the future always reappeared in the past. The jet engine, the cellar door, the guy and his knife, the rabbit, etc.
What I think is that Donnie himself was stuck in some sort of cyclical time stream, where fate caused the same evets to happen over and over each time. Alternatively (or simultaneously), all these elements are cycling through time, perhaps at different rates. But, as the loneliness implies, Donnie is the center of it all. He is somehow i"n God's channel." He is the only one with the power to change the future. He has the option to prevent all the suffering that would have happened had he been alive by mastering the system of the time warps and setting himself to die. He was getting better at it as time went on...he learned (maybe through memorixzing the paths) to see everyone's future path.
That is what he was debating in his mind, what he referred to to the shrink, who suddely started talking about God. People (except Pascal) rarely weigh the pros and cons of believing. What he was weighing was wether he was ready to die for the sake of everyone he loved.
Remember the song at the end "people running 'round in circles...its a mad world" and how Grandma Death would walk in circles all the time. Now add the stuff about how everyone dies alone. Notice how things from the future always reappeared in the past. The jet engine, the cellar door, the guy and his knife, the rabbit, etc.
What I think is that Donnie himself was stuck in some sort of cyclical time stream, where fate caused the same evets to happen over and over each time. Alternatively (or simultaneously), all these elements are cycling through time, perhaps at different rates. But, as the loneliness implies, Donnie is the center of it all. He is somehow i"n God's channel." He is the only one with the power to change the future. He has the option to prevent all the suffering that would have happened had he been alive by mastering the system of the time warps and setting himself to die. He was getting better at it as time went on...he learned (maybe through memorixzing the paths) to see everyone's future path.
That is what he was debating in his mind, what he referred to to the shrink, who suddely started talking about God. People (except Pascal) rarely weigh the pros and cons of believing. What he was weighing was wether he was ready to die for the sake of everyone he loved.
Fast Learner
First Post
The sad part about the concept that Donnie does die from the jet engine is that no one reveals the awful truth about the child molesting dance teacher as a result.
----<===SPOILER WARNING===>----
I wasn't ever really wowed by this movie. One of my friends couldn't shut up about this movie for weeks, so I finally watched it. It was good, but I didn't think there was anything particularly mind blowing in this movie.
For help in explaining the movie get the DVD hope your player has a zoom function and then read the time travel book excerpts they added into the DVD. It cleans up parts and also confuses others, no big surprise there since that is the essence of the whole movie.
My interpretation of the movie is as follows:
Cause and effect got switched.
rather than the normal C>E we have an instance of E<C
The plane engine fell on Donnie. That was an effect with no cause. This is contrary to how our universe works, so without a cause this would have been the end of the universe. Rather than have the universe be destroyed an alternate timeline is formed. In this timeline Donnie lives and sets up the things that have to happen for the jet engine to fall on his house. Essentially Donnie creates the Cause for the Effect of the engine falling. Note that in the movie when the engine goes through the time portal thingie, we go back through the alternate timeline in fast rewind till we get back to where the movie began. Then the engine falls on Donnie. We now have the Cause for the Effect and the universe does not have to be destroyed. The major part of this movie only exists to form the cause for the engine.
Read the stuff on the DVD or alternately you can find it on the web somewhere. Then think about my explanation. It works even explaining away Frank and a few other things.
Anyways thats my take on this movie.
It's worth a watch, but I don't know why people get bent out of shape thinking about this movie. It just isn't that good of an idea. Given the same idea I would have went about making this movie totally differently, but oh well.
I wasn't ever really wowed by this movie. One of my friends couldn't shut up about this movie for weeks, so I finally watched it. It was good, but I didn't think there was anything particularly mind blowing in this movie.
For help in explaining the movie get the DVD hope your player has a zoom function and then read the time travel book excerpts they added into the DVD. It cleans up parts and also confuses others, no big surprise there since that is the essence of the whole movie.
My interpretation of the movie is as follows:
Cause and effect got switched.
rather than the normal C>E we have an instance of E<C
The plane engine fell on Donnie. That was an effect with no cause. This is contrary to how our universe works, so without a cause this would have been the end of the universe. Rather than have the universe be destroyed an alternate timeline is formed. In this timeline Donnie lives and sets up the things that have to happen for the jet engine to fall on his house. Essentially Donnie creates the Cause for the Effect of the engine falling. Note that in the movie when the engine goes through the time portal thingie, we go back through the alternate timeline in fast rewind till we get back to where the movie began. Then the engine falls on Donnie. We now have the Cause for the Effect and the universe does not have to be destroyed. The major part of this movie only exists to form the cause for the engine.
Read the stuff on the DVD or alternately you can find it on the web somewhere. Then think about my explanation. It works even explaining away Frank and a few other things.
Anyways thats my take on this movie.
It's worth a watch, but I don't know why people get bent out of shape thinking about this movie. It just isn't that good of an idea. Given the same idea I would have went about making this movie totally differently, but oh well.
DerianCypher
First Post
If you want a hint, DO NOT WATCH THE ENDING FIRST.
I was flipping through the channels and saw it on HBO and so I watched the last like 30 minutes.. ARGH!! It was so confusing but now I want to see the whole thing
I was flipping through the channels and saw it on HBO and so I watched the last like 30 minutes.. ARGH!! It was so confusing but now I want to see the whole thing
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