Upamanyu Biswas
In the final moments of ‘The Man Who Loved UFOs,‘ the line between reality and fiction blurs as José de Zer loses himself in his search for the UFO. After a series of inexplicable events showcase themselves, the fakery being utilized by the protagonist to sell the vision to the watching public takes on a whole new dimension as certain elements prove themselves to be far more mysterious than established in the beginning. As José overcomes his feelings of imposter syndrome, a different kind of belief instills within him as he tries to find salvation in the message he has been spreading among his followers. However, it causes the movie to end in a very confusing way, which flips the script on the whole narrative! SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Man Who Loved UFOs Plot Synopsis
José de Zer, an entertainment journalist for a TV news channel, suffers a seizure while interviewing a high-profile celebrity, Monica. The attack is triggered after José sees a blinding white light hovering above the sky and a strange high-pitched sound in his head. Subsequently, he wakes up in the hospital while his cameraman, Chango, watches him. One day, two residents from the nearby village of La Candelaria visit him at the hospital and propose for him to cover the story about a burnt pasture in their area. They suggest that the protagonist avail himself of a different angle, namely aliens, as they want tourism to spread in their small community, which has been lacking in advancement over the years.
Subsequently, José embarks on a trip to La Candelaria with Chango and finds the burnt pasture in one of the surrounding hills. He conducts several interviews with the locals, who mostly speak about a UFO conspiracy being hidden by the government and higher authorities. With the recorded footage, the reporter heads back to his TV channel headquarters and presents it to his bosses, who disapprove of the idea immediately. Their reservations are mostly levied at José’s embellishment of the report to make it more exaggerated than usual. However, after various persuasive talks, the protagonist convinces them to air the video during the TV news show ‘Notidiario.’ When it is presented to the public, more doctored evidence is shown, such as burnt insects lying on the charred pasture.
As soon as the footage is released, the audience’s interest in UFO sightings swells as José slowly becomes a household name. Despite being relegated to more obscure entertainment news over the years, his newfound fame drives more attention to his paranormal claims. More support is pumped into his venture as the journalist starts building a crew around himself who help him fabricate the alien story at a higher production level, which includes a mysterious engineer and self-proclaimed alien enthusiast named Sixto Schiaffino. However, amidst the fakery employed by the protagonist, things start heating up as sightings of real inexplicable saucers start appearing in real life. While he continues to believe in their reality, his daughter Martina is not entirely convinced of her dad’s theories.
The Man Who Loves UFOs Ending: Are the Aliens Actually Real?
One of the most confusing and yet pivotal aspects of ‘The Man Who Loved UFOs’ revolves around the existence of the aliens. Although José seems to have faith in their existence, for much of the narrative, he employs dodgy schemes to construct a fake reality to make others believe like him. It suggests that the aliens are simply a construct that the protagonist is using to garner more attention to his work, as he has somehow managed to enrapture them with his style of narration. However, the tricky part of the story is how it plays with the idea of belief and how it can determine what people see as real or not. In fact, during a conversation with his daughter, José mentions the same thing to her, telling her that if she believed the aliens did not exist, then they also did not exist in reality.
It adds a layer of complexity to the narration, especially in the later parts as the mysterious events start ramping up. Initially, the so-called alien visits are only relegated to a flashback in José’s past, specifically when he got lost in the Sinai desert during the Israel war. Whether it is real or not is left up to the audience at that point, with a majority of people likely to side with the latter. However, doubts start creeping in when the reporter becomes acquainted with Sixto Schiaffino, a man he calls Mr. Engineer. From the get-go, the movie presents him with a mysterious aura, albeit seeming ordinary on the surface. The more José dives into his supposed delusions, the more Mr. Engineer offers him spiritual advice and encourages him to keep spreading the words of the aliens.
In many ways, the movie revolves around the power of belief, and initially, José is far from a believer. He even expresses to Chango how skeptical he is of a higher power like God, considering the cruelties in the world. Meanwhile, his cameraman assures him that he himself is a believer. As the narrative progresses, the protagonist undergoes a radical shift in his belief system, going from someone who barely relates to any notion of divine authority to someone who clings to the grace and divinity of the aliens. To that end, the reality of the aliens within the story becomes a rather complicated discussion as it is mostly filtered through the eyes of José. So, the answer might come down to a case of looking at the problem by subscribing to the protagonist’s worldview from beginning to end.
Does Jose Survive the Cave Collapse?
In the final part, an excited José leads an expedition into a mining cave in the hills of La Candelaria, expecting to find answers to his burning questions about the aliens. After having spent months in the village concocting various reports, the journalist is given one last opportunity to craft a big story before he must leave the place. Consequently, his final adventure also turns out to be one of the most life-changing events. It begins with a helicopter ride through the area around the burnt pasture, during which José witnesses a real UFO zipping through the sky. While following it through the air, he and Chango end up at the mining cave. They venture into it despite protestations on the part of his cameraman. Unfortunately, José ends up getting trapped in the cave after he moves in too deep, separating him from Chango.
While being stuck under a pile of rubble, the protagonist uses his lighter to read the nearby cave walls, which are decorated with all manner of hieroglyphs, most of them eerily recounting his own story thus far. Another strange occurrence takes place as Mr. Engineer materializes out of nowhere and speaks with José. This adds even more talking points to the reality of the aliens, as Sixto could not have entered the cave after it collapsed. Mr. Engineer picks up one of the cave hieroglyphics and hands it over to the protagonist before disappearing. A few moments later, he is rescued by the local firefighters, who drag him out of the cave on a stretcher.
Why Does the UFO Take José?
The most concrete evidence of the aliens presents itself in the ending moments of the movie. After being carried out by the firefighters, José flags down his daughter Martina and tells her in a state of adrenaline that the aliens want to take him with them. He hands her the cave hieroglyphic before he is wheeled into the ambulance and driven away. While Martina studies the hieroglyphic, a monumental revelation takes place as a gigantic UFO appears out of the clouds and uses its traction beam to lift the ambulance. The crowd gathered around the cave watches in stunned silence as the protagonist is taken into the UFO just like he envisioned previously after hearing Mr. Engineer. It is a game-changing final twist that leaves the ending with a sense of ambiguity and wonder.
There are several ways to interpret the UFO’s appearance at the end and its reasons for taking José with it. The straightforward reading suggests that the aliens always existed, and everyone was blind to them except the protagonist, who saw them first in the Sinai desert during the war. Additionally, Mr. Engineer is one of those aliens who is hiding among humanity and providing support to the reporter as he is the staunchest follower and believer in the existence of extraterrestrials. Therefore, when the UFO appears and takes José away, it is a reward for his devotion to their ideals and holding on to his convictions despite the world ridiculing him. While it explains most of the ending, there may be an additional aspect to it.
Years ago, when José got lost in the Sinai desert while fighting in the Israeli war, he came close to death several times and did not see any way out. In his derelict state, the vision of the UFO appearing out of nowhere must have felt like a sign of divinity or that his prayers had been answered, even if he was not religious. This highlights the crux of the movie, which uses UFOs as a substitute for religious faith. For most of the narrative, José has been striving to achieve that feeling of connection he felt when the UFO first appeared to him. Thus, his attempts at fabricating a lie to make people believe is irrelevant to his intentions of surrendering to his belief entirely. Because he achieves full spirituality in the end, the UFO appears to take him away and reveal its existence to the public, who doubts José all along.
Read More: José De Zer: What Happened to Him? How Did He Die?
