Plot synopsis
When Billy leans back to rest, he often drifts into a trance, finding himself in a different part of his life. He jumps in and out of time experiencing different parts of his life in random order over and over again. But he cannot change any event, so every part of his life always plays out exactly the same.
We see him reliving different parts of his life, including when he is shot dead as an old man. At one point, some aliens abduct him and take him to their planet, Tralfamadore.
Time and free will do not exist on this planet. The Tralfamadorians can see him, but they explain he cannot see them, as they live in the fourth dimension.
He asks when he can leave and they tell him, “You are here, you have always been here, and you will always be here… We have visited 31 inhabited planets in the universe, we have studied reports on a hundred more, and only on Earth is there any talk of free will!”
Back on Earth, Billy is on stage giving a talk about Tralfamadore. When he tells the audience that he is about to be shot, they gasp and he tells them, “If you protest, if you think death is a terrible thing, then you’ve not understood what I’ve said … it’s time for me to be dead for a little while.”
A soldier who threatened to kill Billy when they were in a prisoner of war camp is in the audience. He pulls out a gun and shoots Billy dead.
The movie ends on the timeless planet with Billy with his new girlfriend, Montana, holding their newborn son.
My comments
Billy is thrown in and out of the timeline, entering and exiting it at seemingly random points during his life. He often repeats different sections of his life over and over again but is never able to change any of them.
Summary of time travel
Taking the start of the movie to be the present, the timeline would have random jumps along it, with the past and future unchanging.
Category of time travel
Psychological: psychosis.
Model of time
Closed past, closed future with a fixed timeline.
