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Jordan Peele’s latest film is full of wonderful mysteries. By the end though most of the questions have been answered. We know why all that shrapnel of human life was falling from the sky, we have found out why the horses were disappearing and it becomes clear why the alien ‘spaceship’ is all squidgy inside. On that last point in particular , the moment when we follow those people who get sucked up into the UFO only to find the inside is not what we expect, is probably the most intriguing part of the whole movie. The resulting reveal that it is not a ship at all but an extra terrestrial creature of some kind is brilliant. Suddenly all of the science leaves what at first appeared to be classic science fiction movie and that in itself is a genius twist.

There is one part that never gets explained though; the shoe. We never find out why that blood spotted, discarded ladies plimsoll in the opening chimp attack scene is just sitting there, upright without being propped on anything.

I have a theory.

What is significant here is how the shoe is in the same position when you see it later in the display case in Jude’s secret museum. The closing stages of Gordy’s rampage is largely shown from young Jude’s POV so it is reasonable to assume that what we are seeing is his recollection of the event. This being the case, we see the shoe standing up on its end because that is how it is set up in the glass box and not the other way around. Adult Jude has spent hours staring at the shoe like that so when he thinks back to seeing it when he was a child he sees it in the same way.

What we are seeing in those very early moments, and again toward the end of the movie, then is Jude’s unreliable recollections of the past. This raises questions around what else from that traumatic time has been remembered wrong. Are his memories of Gordy choosing not to hurt him also a constructed fantasy and is it these falsehoods that he bases his belief on being able to control the alien on? Is this why his judgement is so tragically flawed, leading to a trust in nature and animals that result in his death and that of his whole family, his old co-star and the small number of visitors to his doomed show? Has his success in monetising what happen to him as a kid blinded him to the truth and prompted a hubristic belief that he can also make some profits from this new creature?

If you extended this, maybe the title of the film refers to every character’s refusal or inability to face up to what really happened to them. Is the whole film sister Em’s false memory where everything presented on screen is coming from her as an unreliable narrator? Do we see Kaluuya’s OJ alive at the end because that is what she wanted to see, is that a construction too? That would fit with her seeing him in the distance, intangibility shrouded in the dust and faceless like a dream figure. Is the entire movie the visions of a woman disturbed by trauma and trying to come to terms with immense tragedy? Is this why the cinematographer character Hoist seemed to randomly sacrifice himself for the shot; because she didn’t understand his motivations so gave him none? Is this why we don’t see the biker without his helmet? Is this why the creature tried to eat the ballon, because she had so wanted it to? Did she even kill it or is this all pure fantasy too?

Is this what Jordan Peele is trying to tell us with that image of the upright shoe?

Yep?

Nope?

The point is we are all left to have our own ideas and that is the joy of it.