Forget what Richard Kelly says...

Rating: 8/10 (28 February 2008)

Forget about what Richard Kelly says about the "Philosophy of Time Travel", and Donnie as a "Living Receiver" whose duty it is to close the "Tangential Universe" and save the world. The movie is about satisfying a restless soul's desire for justice and redemption. It's about Frank. In the future he runs over Gretchen, probably due to alcohol and careless driving. He is tormented by his crime, and his soul, upon the opening of the time portal (caused by his own tormented soul?), goes back to seek justice. Although, one could imagine him going back to prevent the accident, that would not assuage his need for justice. He seeks to use Donnie to carry out his own execution. Why does he pick Donnie? Perhaps Donnie, in that previous future, was Gretchen's boyfriend, maybe even at the scene of the accident sans gun. Perhaps Donnie's house just happened to be where Frank's soul and the airplane engine ended up as the wormhole opened up in the past, requiring Frank to rescue him. One could imagine Frank's soul forever looping from the future to the past, each time having to ensure that his own execution would take place. His quest for justice extends to the crime of the Swayze character. But each time thru the time loop, things change, and on this last time thru, Darko finally understands Frank's torment, seeing himself, not as the tool of justice but the cause of injustice, leading Gretchen to her death. In the end, he understands time travel and achieves what Frank achieved, having his soul pass thru the wormhole. Upon arriving back in the past he stays in his room to be killed by the engine. Thru his death, Gretchen maybe lives, Frank never kills her, and is no longer doomed to repeat his passes thru the time loop. If it was Frank's guilt that originally opened the wormhole, then Darko, by allowing himself to die, saves the world.
This is only my interpretation. Most stories are about personal crimes and the search for redemption and/or justice. Why would this movie be any different?