#Donnie Darko Ending Explained: The Power Of Selflessness

“Donnie Darko” deals with time travel and alternate universes, so getting the story straight in a coherent manner is not the easiest thing. Bear with me. Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a mouthy, moody, mentally unwell teenager struggling with sleepwalking, who continually sees visions of a terrifying man-sized rabbit called Frank who tells him the world is going to end. 

One morning, Donnie wakes up on a golf course after a night of sleepwalking to discover a jet engine crashed through his bedroom. Had he not sleepwalked, he would have been killed. Bizarrely, the authorities are unable to figure out where the jet engine came from; there are no planes missing, and no other debris from the crash. Over the next 28 days Donnie is manipulated by Frank to commit crimes, some of which lead to the absolute destruction of those close to him.

His reign of terror includes burning down the pedophilic motivational speaker Jim Cunningham’s home, leading to Jim’s arrest, and a confrontation with his high school bullies that results in Donnie’s would-be girlfriend Gretchen’s death when she is hit by a car. The driver of the car? A man named Frank, wearing a rabbit mask. Completely beside himself, Donnie shoots Frank in the face and Donnie realizes that an injury prophesied by Frank in Donnie’s nightmares is the same one that Donnie gave him. 

As Donnie realizes his nightmares have been predicting the future, Frank’s prophecy of the impending end of the world comes true and a vortex rips in the sky. Just as the plane begins to crash and its jet engine is sucked into the vortex, the movie goes back to where it began – but this time events play out differently. Instead of waking up on the golf course after a night of sleepwalking, Donnie awakens in his bed and is crushed by the falling jet engine that has travelled back in time from the plane crash (hence the FAA being unable to find the rest of the plane). 

Is this a super-generalized look at the film? Yes. Would this become a convoluted mess if I tried to dive any deeper? Also yes.