K-PAX ending explanation

Asked 7 years, 10 months ago Active 6 years, 1 month ago

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In K-PAX, there are two possible explanations:

1. Prot is crazy.
41
2. He is truly an alien.

There are facts that indicate 1, but also 2. Examples:

11 He seems to respond to hypnosis, has a sort of

phobia of water, looks just like his friend and
doesn't physically leave. But he sees UV rays, finds
his planet and in the end makes the other patient
(Bess) vanish.

How should the whole movie be interpreted, especially

the ending?

plot-explanation ending k-pax

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edited Sep 21 '13 at 9:08
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Drew Chapin
 3,083 1 19 37

asked Jan 12 '12 at 13:04

Dragos
2,398 2 15 23

7 Either it was a very bizarre delusion, or Prot is real, and

was inhabiting the body of Robert Porter. I think the idea
is to wonder, not to conclude. – Igby Largeman Jan 12 '12
at 16:49

@IgbyLargeman Yes, this might have been the film-

makers intention. Still, like many other movies, there might
be some hidden clues that I missed. With or without them,
a conclusion could be drawn. I hope someone saw
something or has a good theory in mind(one that should
explain everything). – Dragos Jan 12 '12 at 20:58

I think Prot is truly an alien, but the movie keeps from

giving any irrefutable proof. Everyone can thus either
accept Prot's extra terrestrial nature, or just say he's crazy
and not think about it anymore. – Laurent Pireyn Jan 12
'12 at 21:26

Wait, isn't this the film where he thinks he's an alien but
turns out he went crazy cause his wife and kid died. So he
created this other persona? or am I thinking of a different
film. – Reactgular May 4 '12 at 1:27

@MathewFoscarini This might be the film, but it is not so

clear to me(and seemingly to most people) that he really
went crazy. There are some facts that might sustain the
theory that there is no other persona(I think you are
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'12 at 9:58
10 Answers

Prot is human

37 Prot has a human subconscious

Prot has a human history (e.g. the school book,
and the probable trauma)
Prot remains on earth after July 27th

Prot is an alien inhabiting a disturbed

human's body

He can see ultraviolet rays (perhaps through the

glasses)
He has an astounding knowledge of astronomy,
physics, and advanced psychology (cures
patients of serious mental illnesses that are equal
to his own if he were human)
The electrical disturbance on the surveillance
when he 'left'
He managed to disappear and survive unnoticed
for almost 5 years since the incident.
He evaded security and left for 3 days completely
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He left Bess's letter on her bed before she
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disappeared, confirming some sort of interaction
 that allowed her to disappear unnoticed on July
27th. (Perhaps he told her of a way to breach
security)

Prot was an ET and could travel through a light beam

in human body physical form but only one at a time.
Hence, "I can only take one of you" ultimately
choosing Bess. Robert Porter was Prot's human friend
before suffering mental trauma and becoming
catatonic so Prot occupied his body to protect him and
travel through until he could deliver him from peril after
finding the right caretaker (Dr. Powell), then catching
his prearranged travel timed Lightbeam Home using
Bess as his human form (Vehicle), leaving Robert in
safe haven with Dr. Powell. That's my synopsis.

Regardless, Prot acknowledges his return to

consciousness with Jeff Bridges, asking that he take
care of him. To me this says that although Prot may be
an alien in Robert's body, he may still maintain some
of the human subconsciousness.
For these reasons I find the clues are more consistent
with the possibility that he is an Alien, than he is not.
Funny enough to say, it would be almost more
convoluted to argue that he was human.

edited Mar 24 '13 at 18:25

David Harkness
982 7 17
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Finally someone has given a straight answer(sustaining

without any doubt one of the theories). What is more, I
appreciate that you have listed the facts that could lead to
one or the other theory. – Dragos Jul 27 '12 at 8:07

I was unlucky the question was already closed, it is still

missing my answer (wich is really different from others,
and still has NO SPOILER from books) –
GameDeveloper May 24 '16 at 15:14

I think it's sort of like the endings of movies like

"Inception", "Fried Green Tomatoes", and "12 Angry
7 Men" where we, as the audience, are not given all the
answers. I think he really was an alien, but I like that
the film leaves enough ambiguity and mystery to let us
think about it and decide on our own what to believe,
rather than just spoon-feeding audiences every
answer.

answered Jan 13 '12 at 0:57

Andrew Latham
5,914 7 32 73

I understand what you mean. Are you really convinced he

is an alien? Do all the facts make sense for you with this
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understand our Cookie Policy, Privacy Policy, and our Terms of
Service. Well, I'm pretty sure the accused was really not guilty in
12 Angry Men, if that's what you mean by ambiguity, but
 well he might be, never thought about that possibility. –
Napoleon Wilson ♦ Jan 13 '12 at 14:42

I think he's an alien, but that's just what I think. As for 12

Angry Men, we are simply presented with the evidence
and the opinions of the men in the room, we're never told
explicitly whether or not the kid is guilty. – Andrew Latham
Jan 13 '12 at 16:39

Despite our biases to side with the Protagonist and see

the kid acquitted, here's an interesting read that presents
a compelling argument that Henry Fonda kinda let a killer
go free: avclub.com/articles/did-12-angry-men-get-it-
wrong,83245 – hexparrot Aug 8 '12 at 23:15

Prot was a spirit who was Robert porters guardian

Angel over the course of his life . Robert porter over
7 his years would pray and ask for guidance and help
when in need and prot would come to take care of him
and offer him guidance

Proat loved fruit and was especially interested in the

red delicious apple in the psycologist office because
where he is from someone ate an apple in the garden
of eden and got in big trouble (eve)

Prots report was some of the mistakes he made in his

life on earth that he had to fix

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 The one patient was cured of his problem of not going
outside wearing a mask for protection etc when prot
instructed the other patient with the glasses to strangle
him so he would die and be brought back , showing
him that there is something great that happens after
death and not to waste his time being afraid of dying

The mental patients saw prot as the Angel he was, not

robert , because there minds were more open to
seeing things that you cant really explain .. this
explains there comments of "whos that guy " thats
definitely not prot when Roberts body was taken out of
thre room after prot left him .

The last comments on the movie about the world

expanding and contracting refer to birth and death

Having to repeat youre journey over and over untill you

get all your mistakes right is reffering to the journey we
all are on untill we serve gods purpose here , and get
invited back to our home heaven. If we get it right the
first time ...we dont have to keep coming back like he
did untill we get it right.

K PAX was inference to heaven not a planet

edited Mar 24 '13 at 21:13

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79 1 2
 WOW... great answer... I don't know if this is the correct
one, but it definitely makes me watch the movie again. Is
this your own interpretation or have you read it
somewhere? Have you read the books(it seems there is a
series of 3 books, the movie being the screening of the
first one only)? – Dragos Mar 25 '13 at 11:47

There are some parts that could be considered as

"weird" and used as "for" or "against" for the theory
4 that Prot was an alien.

When he is "talking" with the dog, when the security

cam stopped working at 5:51am sharp on 27th of July
when he was supposed to leave, Bess's
disappearance and maybe some other that I can't
remember at the moment. But there is no proof that he
actually did understand that dog. There is no proof that
the security cam didn't just stop working by an
accident.

There is no proof that Bess went to K-PAX. She

could've taken the chance when everyone was rushing
to Prot's room and sneak out (but again why would
she?). I just wonder how he could know that much
about some distant galaxy (that even top scientists
didn't know at that time - according to the movie) if he
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That drawing with formulas that positioned planets in
Service.that galaxy exactly is something that even the
 scientists couldn't explain. There could be an
explanation if he was a former scientist who had some
advanced knowledge and in some point of time went
crazy and mixed reality with imagination, but he was a
worker at some meat packing plant... So, this is the
only thing in the whole movie that gives me a lot of
confusion.

edited May 4 '12 at 1:50

Tablemaker
33.7k 19 145 214

answered May 4 '12 at 0:49

Vaskelichius
41 1

I've developed somewhat of a theory over the years

since its release in 2001. Many times throughout the
3 films, there's an indication towards Dr. Powell's failed
attempt at a marriage, the first time around. I've always
wondered as to why this was mentioned, what
significance could this possibly hold? That it's
questionable as to whether Dr. Powell should be
considered to having his life in order?

Sure, Dr. Powell has a beautiful wife and two cute kids,
and another whom we don't see till the end of the film
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 My opinion, which may be somewhat outlandish, is that
Dr. Powell is Robert Porter.

Robert Porter vanished five years ago, and yet Kevin

Spacey's role as Prot seems unbelievably close in age
to Dr. Powell. Could they have been childhood friends?
Apparently, Robert's father was a keen astronomer;
something which a member of Dr. Powell's family is
also proficient in.

Maybe Prot has returned with complete knowledge of

where Robert Porter/Powell had setup his new life - in
New York as a psychologist. One could argue how
someone would be able to become an obviously well-
respected psychologist in 5 years, on top of building a
family; but even here - we don't know if Powell's
daughters are biologically related to him, and either of
them may be under/around the age of 5. Powell also
has a dream about the twilight planet of K-PAX, which
may be a clue that he's also travelled with Prot at
some point or another, and that this warping of time
may have afflicted him also.

Powell also had his previous failed marriage, but

there's no indication as to what the cause of this was;
only that he and his son Michael have developed an
alienated relationship.

There were other clues throughout the years I have

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Prot IS really Robert Porter (the first clue, obviously,
 being that Prot is an anagram for the first four letters of
Porter).

edited Oct 10 '13 at 18:05

coleopterist
17k 15 92 148

answered Oct 10 '13 at 14:20

J-SLAX
31 1

The way the director wants to present it is that this

really could be happening and the hinges that he is a
2 human is just the stuff that the sceptics (most of us)
feed off as an excuse that it's just a scam. The way I
see it though is that he really is a K-PAXian and
posseses a body in order to live and travel to/from
earth (Robert's body on the way to earth and leaving
with Bess' body).

answered May 9 '13 at 22:47

vito
21 1

Sounds like an interesting approach(the one with the view

of the skeptics), but, in my opinion, it needs a bit of
elaboration. – Dragos May 10 '13 at 8:46
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 Prot is Human

2 Prot created the double ego the first time he went

through a shock he couldn't handle when his father
died. After that he bought a telescope and kept going
with his life establishing the facts regarding the second
ego at the periods of crisis. After his wife and daughter
died, which was the worst crisis, 5 years passed that
we do not know what he was doing. His was clever
enough and obsessed enough to have been searching
and studying about the spedific planet so as to
conclude in facts that scientists hadn't. He wrote laws
of physics and mathematics so he may had been
studying these as well. When he was under hypnosis
he reffered to his other ego as a friend.

When Prot travelled through a light beam, he didn't

need mass. That's why he left Robert behind. If that is
so, why Bess needed a human body to go to K-Pax?
As i see it, he just gave her strength to run free.

The camera happened to not to be working at the

moment and the bluebird may had been a mass
paroxysm.

answered Sep 20 '13 at 9:19

Evita
21 1

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Service.Prot is Robert's guardian angel. He clearly says he
comes when he needs help and he leaves him with Dr.
 0 Powell and takes Bess's body because she needs his
help now.

edited Jun 12 '13 at 10:06

Andrew Lott
351 2 17

answered Jun 12 '13 at 8:38

user5100
1

If Robert Porter's body was being inhabited by an alien

that traveled far faster than the speed of light, which no
0 human body could withstand, how was Prot traveling
on earth for 5 years in Robert Porter's body? In the
movie he went up north and was missing from the
psych ward for three days. How did he travel in
Robert's body? Robert Porter's body just appeared in
the train station. How? The movie leaves this
unanswered.

edited Oct 10 '13 at 18:08

coleopterist
17k 15 92 148

answered Mar 6 '13 at 2:23

Kevin Wright
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 Prot is from K-Pax.

He came down from K-Pax to help a friend whom he

0
had been in contact with many times in previous visits
(As Peter was also very smart).

Prot took over the body of Peter, (saved from

drowning) to try and keep him alive to help him, which
as it turned out in the end Prot could not (then gave
him to the human Dr to look after), the loss was to
great after the death of his wife and child.

Now why he chose Bess, she suffered the same sort of

illness from much the same sort of emotional incident
(loss of family). If there was a K-Pax 2, Bess would be
the Prot from K-Pax.

The thing I like about this movie is this: We just don't

know anything for sure.

We humans think we are smart, but we are nothing in

the time frame of the universe and so very naïve.
There could easy be other life forms out there far more
advanced than us. We assume because we have not
discovered it yet that light is not a means for energy,
that time travel or intergalactic travel is not
possible...but it could be as we don't know everything.
In just even 500 years from now, our knowledge would
have grown massively.
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edited Oct 10 '13 at 18:10
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coleopterist
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17k 15 92 148
 answered Aug 10 '13 at 12:16
Mark
1

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