The Matrix

I will focus on the first movie of the trilogy. The 2nd and 3rd movies can be ignored as mere glitzy presentations of special effects, having little meaning beyond that. The first installment is a classic. The Matrix is so full of biblical allusions that it needs a special introductory post. The movie doesn't so much preach as feel like reality. When I say reality, I mean truth. And when I say it feels real, I don't mean the words don't need to be heard and understood. The feeling of the movie is an aspect of good movie-making. The words are significant. The actors speak their lines to perfection. It is in a category that I call a perfect movie. I consider a perfect movie one in which every scene, every act, accomplishes its purpose, and the movie must have a grand theme. The theme of the matrix is reality. Yet, there are numerous sub-themes - how to know the difference between reality and fantasy, the slavery of those who don't know reality, what it takes to know reality, how a organization that seeks to show reality to the world operates, faith, the difference between people who know reality and those who don't, the differences amongst the people who know reality, and the need for One to lead. I cannot explain the plot. It would take too long, and it would not do the movie justice. The plot is merely a construct, a vehicle, to show us the real world. In a sense, The Matrix is one of the most important movies of modern time because it so effectively shows us how we can be deceived and never know it and that we cannot know it - on our own. Only someone from outside the reality we live in can tell us what is real. But to exit reality is to die. Personality and the principle of faith are keys to understanding the power of the movie. Persons are the heroes in this movie, not technology, not groups, but individuals are what make the difference in the world. Faith is key to acting in this world. Without faith, one is prey to the "laws" supposedly governing the reality we live in. Faith allows a person to go beyond and demonstrate the existence of another reality. The movie follows a path, a trajectory, that involves the finding of the One, a messianic character who can manipulate the Matrix and not be controlled by it. That person can free the others. He comes from outside the Matrix, yet he lives in it. As John 1 says, "That was the true light which gives light to every man coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, and the world did not know him." Jn 1:9-10. There are disciples in this movie who follow a John the Baptist, named Morpheus, who seeks "the One." They find him, and he seems like a fairly normal person, but he's a computer programmer who operates outside the restrictions as to how computers and programs can be used. The people enslaved are living in a computer generated dream world, thinking they are normal humans living in a normal world, when in reality, they are the slaves of the computers who use humans as a power source. They keep the world going and they program reality; therefore, it is they who have taken over the control of the world. That seems to be their only purpose for existence - control. Future posts will go into the details, and they are many. Therefore, the posts covering the meanings within The Matrix could be extensive. Entire blogs could be and have been devoted solely to this movie.