The Man Who Loved UFOs ending explained: Millions of miles away from reality

The Man Who Loved UFOs is a 2024 Argentine comedy-drama film directed by Diego Lerman, with a screenplay he has co-written with Adrián Biniez. It tells the story of Argentine entertainment journalist José de Zer, who created a media sensation with his reporting of alien sightings in La Candelaria.

The film depicts that the entire alien conspiracy theory in 1986 was a hoax created by Jose, Isadora Lopez Cortese, and Pedro Echevarria, to turn the place into a tourist hub. Jose was promised a fortune if he succeeded. The film is about his relentless pursuit to create attention-grabbing alien conspiracy news and its effect on him.

Overall, the narrative revolves around the media industry, faith, and the possibility of aliens. The ending of the film seems to be away from the true story, as it shows an alien spacecraft taking Jose away in front of a few dozen people and the media.

Director Diego Lerman spoke about how he thought of making this project during his vacation in Cordoba, where the story is set. He told The Hollywood Reporter on September 25, 2024:

"I remembered the character of Jose, so I started researching and that made me think that there was an interesting film to do about him and the origin of fake news, for example."

The Man Who Loved UFOs stars Leonardo Sbaraglia, Sergio Prina, Osmar Núñez, Renata Lerman, María Merlino, Agustín Rittano, and Norman Briski in important roles. It was released on Netflix on October 18, 2024.

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Jose gets trapped in a cave at the end of The Man Who Loved UFOs

(Image via Netflix)

In The Man Who Loved UFOs, Jose is introduced as a charming entertainment journalist who is respected in his field. One day after a shoot, Jose collapses and is rushed to the hospital. After waking up he meets Pedro Echevarria, the president of Cerro Mining Cooperative who asks him to do a story about his town La Candelaria to boost tourism.

He proposes making the story centered around aliens, as many people in town claimed to have seen UFOs, back in the day.

This angle of the story intrigues Jose, particularly the UFO sightings. The reason behind it can be found in Jose's past. In 1967, he was a soldier in the Six Days War in Israel, who was stuck in the Sinai desert for days without food and water and saw something unusual in the sky. Since then, he believed in the extraterrestrial life trying to communicate with us.

However, he reports on the alien sightings in Candelaria mostly for money and fame. Jose is so convincing that his hoax becomes a sensation and he becomes a celebrity.

In the last sequence of The Man Who Loved UFOs, Jose and his cameraman Chango follow two lights in the sky, but soon their helicopter faces malfunction and has to land near an old cave. Jose goes inside the cave to inspect but the roof suddenly collapses and he is stuck inside.

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Jose is taken away by the aliens in The Man Who Loved UFOs

Inside the cave, Jose sees peculiar inscriptions on the wall and has visions of extraterrestrial life. On the other side, the news of his trapping reaches the news channel and he becomes an even bigger star, someone who is risking his life for seeking the truth.

Soon a crowd is gathered outside the cave door, including Jose's daughter and colleagues. A group of firefighters rescue him. But after he comes out, he hands over a small rock with a strange inscription to his daughter, who is skeptical about his claims. While giving the rock as proof of the alien's existence, he also tells her that the aliens are coming to take him.

Listening to his strange claims, his colleagues think that he is in shock and urge him to stop talking and let the medics take him inside the ambulance. But soon something happens that shocks them and confuses the viewers. An alien UFO comes and takes Jose with them, along with the entire ambulance.

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What happened to Jose in real life?

The ending of The Man Who Loved UFOs is fictional, as no alien UFO was reportedly sighted after Jose was rescued from the cave. Also, he could not provide solid proof to support his claim in 1986.

Jose lived for a few more years after this incident, defending his claims. Later, all his claims were found to be false and fabricated, as reported by The Sun. He died in 1997 after battling Parkinson's and oesophageal cancer.

Interestingly, the makers decided to send him off with the aliens. It can be an attempt to humanize his delusions and strong belief in UFOs, which possibly came from the challenging time he spent during the war and in the desert. The ending perhaps conveys that his actions were motivated by his belief in the existence of aliens.

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The Man Who Loved UFOs is available for streaming on Netflix.