A man becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing the phenomena to be the symptom of something larger, his obsession eventually leads him to question reality itself.
The Mandela Effect follows a man who becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing the phenomena to be the symptom of something much larger, his obsession eventually leads him to question reality itself.
Computer game designer Brendan (Charlie Hofheimer) and his wife, Claire (Aleksa Palladino), are grieving for their daughter Sam (Madeleine McGraw), who drowned trying to retrieve her Curious George doll from the ocean. As they reluctantly rummage through Sam's belongings, Brendan finds a copy of The Berenstain Bears. To the bewilderment of Brendan and his brother-in-law Matt (Robin Lord Taylor), they remember the title with "Berenstein," even though they find no evidence that it was ever changed. This leads them to learn about many other examples of the "Mandela Effect," collectively shared "false" memories. Brendan and Claire discover further discrepancies, such as clearly remembering that Sam's doll had a tail when it actually does not.
Eventually, Brendan concludes that the discrepancies are due to shifts between parallel universes and that Sam is still alive in one of them. Despite objections from Claire and Matt, he tracks down Dr. Roland Fuchs (Clarke Peters), a scientist who has been alienated for holding similar beliefs. Dr. Fuchs's research indicates that the universe is a computer simulation, with the Mandela Effect being the result of reality being rewritten to prevent its inhabitants from exposing it as a simulation. They begin developing a special computer program that, when run on the quantum computer of Dr. Fuchs' old campus, could interrupt the simulation.
This revelation takes a toll on Brendan's daily life and marriage. He also begins to have visions of Sam, which at first no one else sees, until one day she is inexplicably alive and everyone can perceive her. Disconcerted, Brendan visits Dr. Fuchs, only to be informed that he died by suicide two months ago. Having talked to him mere hours before, Brendan acknowledges the alteration as the simulation's attempt to thwart their plan. He rushes to finish the program, breaks into the college campus and runs it on the quantum computer. Glitches manifest and destabilize reality, prompting Brendan to rush home. As the family hold each other tightly, the simulation crashes.
The simulation restarts, recreating the history of the universe. The family is shown at the beach again, with this time Brendan asking Sam to leave her Curious George doll -now without a tail- before going to the water. This saves Sam's life and allows the simulation to continue beyond the event that originally led to its discovery and crash. (thanks to Wikipedia)
