Why did Donnie have to die? - I figured it out.

[angie]

the Tangent universe' entrance and exit is signalled by the clock chime in both start and finish parts of the film. donnie got led out so that all the pieces fit together to drop it into the real world again. The commentary(DVD) states that Donnie didn't have to die, but as you said, he was enlightened, and this was his choice. This can not be a hallucination, and the common belief in othe rplaces on the web that frank is the effect of phycosois can not be explained by the mmad world montage. As far as the evidence points, all this happened. The reason Donnie Dies is because a huge time loop would have been caused, if he had not got up, then it would not have happened. but now the engine falls there can be no way to tell that he is not just back at the start of the time loop. He must die because his is not sure that this is the real universe, and if this is the tangent universe, then all his efforts were for nothing. Huge time paradoxes from and as some theories go, the universe would have ripped itself apart at the same time as it should have because of the engine falling out of the real universe. Perhaps frank didn't have the confidence in donnie that he would die?

[jimmidarko]

If Donnie does chose to die therefore commiting suicide he would be defying god so would not 'qualify' for the something to look forward to if it is inface heaven, and would become a lost soul.

[Bigboy]

Well that depends - depending on the theology you follow, and the circumstances, suicide is not always considered "sin".
Also, if it is God's intent that you choose to die, would suicide in that case constitute defying God? How could you tell?

I personally don't believe he chose to die, or that God necessarily exists (in the movie or in real life), but if there is a God, how can we possibly know his mind?

(BTW please remember you can modify or delete your own posts if you srew up or to avoid double-posting)

[ProvidencePortal]

Isn't that an interesting bit of M.C. Eschering, though? So Donnie is divinely empowered and guided. He explores freewill through a providential process, and gets to make a choice at the end -- defy God's rule but follow her/his strong suggestion and choose death (thereby connecting with the divine), or follow her/his law, violate her/his strong suggestion and choose life ... only to be distanced from the divine.

Adding the theologic ramifications of suicide into the otherwise generally accepted interpretation of the movie puts quite a spin on it.

[jimmidarko]

I am still confused though. If he did live but didnt remember would there still be a rip or disruption in space and time ect? maby im confused because i want him to live and im trying to find reason for it. oh well.

[freedom101]

i think if anyone here has ever felt suicidal and i mean really suicidal they would not have a problem understanding that donnie may have chosen to exit. if he had had a moment of enlightenment similar to what eastern philosophies teach, he most certainly would have realised that this life is only one realm of conciousness, would have detached from fear of physical death and laughed, just as he did...
the eastern teachings have a very different idea of god and death, suicide and afterlife. they believe that the person's state of mind at the time of death determines what happens next, hence if you are peaceful or panicking, relieved or terrified, your afterlife moments later will reflect those states.
looking at the film from that point, donnie's actions make sense, but that does not mean that is what the kelly man had in mind!
but hey, maybe you can look at it that he died laughing and relieved that he had done what he needed to do, thus - happy in his next moment. what the west calls the afterlife, the east calls the next life! like BB says, depends on your beliefs.
big x to you all

[karel schroder]

Its more simple than that, the first idea people think, is that he dies to save the girl, but why would he do that when he could live and never met her. He "kill himself" because it was the PATH OF GOD, remember the conversation he had with his teacher. It was his destiny to die, the same as jesus knew that he was going to die and he didnt scape, donnie knew he was going to die because it was his destiny.

[elizabeth]

I believe that Donnie didn't have to die.It was his decision to stay in his bed at the end.After his horrible experience at the Tangent Universe and the knowledge that a possible future without laws or rules(as Dr Thurman says) will manifest because of the time line corruption, made him appreciate the way his life is as also the beauty and wisdom behind everything.
He stays in his bed,relieved and determined to make sure that a future like that will never happen..

[Cass]

When watching the movie, existential principles are just thrown around the whole time.
"It's absurd!"
I think the ending has to do with Donnie choosing to go back in time to save the ones he loves by staying in bed and dying. God had nothing to do with anything, but rather his ability to decide (and his choices) his own fate, and in turn, the fate of his community.
The tangent world and the primary world were so closely connected that Donnie was able to visualize certain things (manifested in the directions of Frank) and execute them to lead him to where he needed to be in the end of the movie (to get him back into bed).

[Bigboy]

I think the ending has to do with Donnie choosing to go back in time to save the ones he loves by staying in bed and dying.

But the point at which he dies IS back in time (or in a different universe, depending how you look at it), or am I reading this wrong?

[thedon]

i agree with the second last reply. why in fact would donnie be laughing if he escaped a death dream, a more serious expression would be made. one of shock or despair. sure he just cheated death but if you've ever had a death dream it's highly unlikely you wake up laughing. roberta sparrow continuosly kept going back and forth from her letter box. why? because she could not find the same result in which donnie had cheated dying alone. that is why is he was laughing in the end, he was laughing at how not " everyone dies alone" and his choice leading to his death was that he lived a pathway that contained other peoples love. the idea of frank he is the messanger from god leading to donnie's fulfiled ending. divine intervention if you will, in this same process frank was forcing donnie to create acts of vandalism he had no choice he's pathway was already set out. that is why the school was flooded he met gretchen, also i'm not clear on this but when donnie burnt the house of jc the picture behind donnie looked like frank. also jc was presenting his love/fear seminar the story was of a troubled boy named frank. maybe frank led donnie to burn the house down because he may have been a victim of the dungeon kiddie porn scandal. another theory is that it is he's father. ill end with this, the mad world montage showed that every one had an idea of what happend as if they experienced a connection to donnie personally. they all showed sadness and the best example is gretchen waving to donnie's mother. donnie's mother hesitates before waving illustrating a look of connection don't i know you etc. why the wave from gretchen. if someone has just lost a family member and then someone they know waves to them it seems highly unlikey that they would wave back.

[elizabeth]

I totally agree with that.Even if Donnie thought it was just a dream,his joyful laughter is really out of place with all the things he saw.If anything, he should have woken up like all the others do in the Mad World montage.Shocked,regretful,relieved but in contemplation.
Something,else I noticed about that.His mood begins to change from the scene where he is sitting on the hood of his car.As he sees the tornado and the black hole forming,he starts giggling!Then he repeats Gretchen's words"I am going home"and the rewind begins.
When we see him again at his bed his giggles have become THAT laugh!

[Bigboy]

he starts giggling!Then he repeats Gretchen's words"I am going home"and the rewind begins.
When we see him again at his bed his giggles have become THAT laugh!

I LIKE that! Nice observation.
It turns the question of "Why was he laughing in bed" to "why was he laughing on the ridge" - the answer as you say "Shocked,regretful,relieved" that the ordeal is over.
Sort of supports the notion that he doesn't expect the engine at the end too.

[Mark]

i think that grandma death was a LR but she choose not to die. That is why she "changed" all of a sudden and wrote that book. That is why she drove herself seemingly insane waiting for donnie's letter. that is my theory and it JUST dawned on me.

[Zantalos]

Dude this is so simple!
Everything that happened is Donnie's fault. By living, his mom and sister would have died in that plane crash, Gretchen would get hit by the car, everything would happen like it did. More importantly, Frank would still be pissed off for getting owned in the face. He came from somewhere else like, earth 3. He got sucked into this particular universe to try to save himself. Course the portal opened from the last time universe warp so he couldn't get to Donnie in time (and if he did, so what? He can't smother him. Donnie didn't take his fake pills so he'd still get out of bed anyways, thus dodging the plane engine).

He then spent this time making Donnie create his insurance trap. Giving him powers to hit the statue in the head and flood the school (metal and water). Then after finishing all that insurance crap, he led Donnie over to the scene where he'd get shot in the eye. Frank didn't know about the end of the world thing, he did subconsciously but he was talking about where his world would end. That's why the time ended to where he died, not to where Donnie had to go back in time.

And if Donnie dies, his parents probably wouldn't send their kid on the sparkle magic stuff. None of that other stuff would happen if Donnie was tragically thrown out of the picture. Frank is the only person who has past ideas on the matter, because his other self when to this universe. Every one else would have still done what they did, Pedophiles cry, Fans stay up at night, and Cherrita girls still have to sleep sooner or later.

Man, I doubt Richard Kelly actually thought this hard on stuff. He couldn't even explain what happened in the director's cut commentary. He just had to do this plot heavy movie and add little clips to fill in all the little holes, even if they somewhat contradicted each other.