in the context of September 11...

Rating: 9/10 (7 April 2006)

"Donnie Darko" is not the easiest movie to explain. The title character (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a high school student in 1988 who narrowly escapes death one night by wondering out of his house before a jet engine crashes into his room. He then has visions of an evil-looking rabbit who may or may not be there to warn him of something.
That's the bare plot, but there's of course the question of the movie's overarching idea. That's very much up to interpretation. Is it about time travel? Maybe so; I can't say for certain. But other things strike me about the movie. One scene shows the debate between George Bush Sr and Michael Dukakis, in which Bush praises Panama's president. This gives an obvious sense of irony, possibly an allusion to what ends up happening in the movie.
But I would really like to talk about the movie in the context of September 11, 2001, as the movie was released shortly thereafter. It's not just that "Donnie Darko" creates an eerie, mind-blowing feeling similar to the one that we got on 9/11. There is also Patrick Swayze's pop-psychologist: to me, at least, he represents the "Bible-for-everything" agenda that Bush used 9/11 to try and push.
But that's just me. I don't know for certain what the movie's saying. But I do recommend it. Interestingly, around the time that it was released, the Steve Martin vehicle "Novocaine" also featured a sinister-looking rabbit. Hmmm...