My Favorite Movies: #15—The Matrix

 

15. The Matrix (1999) 

Genre: Sci-Fi Action/Adventure

Directors: The Wachowski Brothers 

Writers: The Wachowski Brothers

Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving

Awards: 4 Oscars—Film Editing, Sound, Sound Effects, Visual Effects

Metacritic score: 73 

IMDB Ranking: #18

Free. Your. Mind.

You may think that the sci-fi/action masterpiece The Matrix is all about Kung-Fu and hyper slo-mo fight sequences and radically innovative camera tricks, but you would only be looking on the surface, unable to see the truth of the code that lies beneath the visual mastery of this film.

The Matrix is the greatest movie ever made about philosophy, and it stands as an essential vocabulary needed to discuss the deepest questions we face about reality, free will, moral choice, and destiny. Every area of philosophy is covered in a way that could keep us exploring the limits of human understanding for generations.

The plot is easy enough to discern: Robots use humans as biological batteries, and Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) sets Neo (Keanu Reeves) free in order to help him destroy this all-controlling computer program. Seriously kick-ass fight scenes and action sequences unfold as Neo discovers the extent to which he can manipulate the virtual world around him. He also falls in love with Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) while fighting to stay alive and ahead of the relentless Agent Smith (Hugo Weaving) determined to end his reality for good.

But all of this is just window-dressing to the deeper questions that lie within the movie. What is the nature of reality? How do we know that the "waking world" we live in is real? Don't our dreams sometimes seem just as real—or even more real—than the world we awake to? The question that drove the movie's marketing, "What is the Matrix?" is actually a variation of a question that has intrigued philosophers for decades: "What if we are just brains in a vat?" How can we prove to ourselves that our reality really is reality? And how do we know if there are other realities beyond this one?

The Matrix deals with questions of free will and determinism; if we are living in the Matrix, are any of our actions free? And even if we get out of the Matrix, how do we know that what we do in the "real world" is any less determined? (This is the central question of the first sequel, Matrix Reloaded, a flawed but sometimes interesting film, with the added advantage of featuring Monica Bellucci, one of the most beautiful women who has ever lived...proof of a loving God if ever I saw it.) 

Ethics is a central concern, as well. Life has no value for the agents, who are computer simulations that cannot be killed, but dying in the Matrix means you also die in the real world. Neo's adventures confront him with a number of moral choices that place him in the position to consider whether to save himself (Ethical Egoism) or save his friends (Utilitarianism).

Finally, this film raises serious, deep questions about the nature of the human mind and the function and nature of consciousness. Every lesson that Morpheus teaches Neo about the Matrix is about using his mind to overcome the virtual reality of the physical world around him. Philosophers since Plato have been debating the relationship between mind and matter as well as the concept of dualism—do we have a body and a soul? Is the soul part of the body? Can the mind live without the body?

I have spent the past two years taking graduate classes in philosophy, focusing on Epistemology (the study of knowledge and truth), and not one week went by in which those of us in the class were not using The Matrix as an illustration of some concept or quality related to the mind and reality. The reality for me is that many of my philosophy students were toddlers when the movie was released and have never seen the film. I think I might start off the semester by showing them how philosophy asks questions that inspire filmmaking genius. 

And genius it is...I don't want to conclude this entry without pointing out how brilliant the entire film is, from the film-noirish sets and costumes, the lighting, the innovative camera angles, the electronica musical score—this movie was revolutionary in that it inspired a decade of imitators that turned its visual and narrative innovations into worn-out cliches. But nonetheless, it stands as one of the most original and mind-blowing films of our generation.