The Matrix is a film that forever changed
the landscape in Hollywood.
Featuring some of the most groundbreaking
visual effects of its time, iconic imagery,
and impeccably choreographed fight sequences
of a major Hollywood film.
It took inspiration from Hong Kong's action
films, as well as anime like “Ghost in the
Shell” and “Akira”.
It became a huge success when it was released
in 1999, and earned a fair amount of critical
acclaim, even taking home four Academy Awards.
Its two sequels were received less enthusiastically
by both audiences and critics.
The films instantly became a pop culture phenomenon
that we've all seen parodied numerous times.
Earning praise for their action, visual effects
and general concept, criticism for its wooden
performances, confusing scenes and cliché
dialogue.
But there's a whole wealth of insight the
films provide from a philosophical standpoint,
something present in all three films in the
trilogy.
The first film largely interprets Plato's
Allegory of the Cave.
A famous thought experiment in philosophy.
Imagine a cave.
Inside are people who were born and have spent
their entire lives there, chained into a fixed
position, only able to see the wall in front
of them.
As far as they know, this is the entire world.
They've never known or seen anything else,
so what basis would they have to expect anything
to exist outside of the cave?
This is the basic idea of The Matrix, how
do we know what our reality really is?
Let's continue the thought experiment, what
happens when a prisoner is freed?
It's likely that he wouldn't leave on his
own volition, out of fear.
But if taken against his will, and brought
out to the world above.
After a tough climb, eventually his eyes would
adjust from the darkness, eventually able
to look upon the sun, and gain the knowledge
within its light.
In Plato's Analogy of the Sun, the sun is
a metaphor for the nature of reality and knowledge
concerning it.
The sun is knowledge, light itself is truth
and understanding, or, enlightenment.
Unplugging from The Matrix, stepping out of
the cave, is the first step towards Gnosis,
which leads to enlightenment.
But the humans scorched the skies in an attempt
to win the war against the machines.
They're still separated from truth and wisdom,
even outside of The Matrix, in another cave
of sorts, with a greater spiritual journey
still ahead.
Towards the end of the first film, we learn
that this current Matrix is actually an updated
version, the original version was designed
as a paradise for humanity.
But most end up rejecting the program, unable
to accept it as reality.
It's an interesting idea, that human nature
requires suffering, that we as a species have
a built in need for chaos and struggle, for
sacrifice.
Ideas present in many of the world's leading
religions, which the Wachowski's allude to
throughout the trilogy.
While the first film is mostly a crash course
in epistemology, with some references to Christianity.
The second and third films dive much deeper
into religious philosophy from the East.
A fundamental belief in Indian religions like
Hinduism or Buddhism is the concept of Samsara.
The body dies, but the soul is eternal, reincarnated
into other physical forms in an infinite cycle
where the soul is left to wander and suffer.
Every soul must embark on a spiritual quest,
to attain self-liberation from Samsara through
enlightenment, by uniting body and mind with
spirit.
This is called Moksha, in Hinduism, though
you may have heard the Buddhist term Nirvana
to describe it as well.
Let's recall this scene at the end of the
first film, with Agent Smith.
Smith and Neo are both on the same path, they
want the same thing, they are both trying
to free themselves from this cycle of suffering.
But they are polar opposites, yin and yang
to one another.
Neo wants to liberate the people of Zion,
and eventually free those still imprisoned
within the Matrix.
Smith wants to bring an end to it all, the
Matrix and the real world outside.
Smith and Neo are both unique to this iteration
of The Matrix, never before has a program
gone rogue and set to destroy both the machines
and humanity.
Nor have we ever seen a One like Neo.
In all previous versions an eventual anomaly
presents itself, in the form of The One.
Whose path leads him to the Architect.
Zion is destroyed, the Matrix is rebooted,
and The One takes with them 23 people to rebuild
Zion.
This has been done five times before, every
other chosen One has made the same choice,
because failure to comply will lead to a system
failure within The Matrix, killing everyone
plugged in, as well as everyone in Zion, effectively
wiping out the species, this is the purpose
of 
the One.
He's willing to sacrifice anything, even the
entire human race, to save her.
Notice the TVs, all seemingly showing different
time-lines, different eventualities for the
same moment.
Most of what the architect says triggers different
responses from Neo, save for one, when left
with the choice between saving humanity, or
saving Trinity.
He makes the choice no other One before him
did.
He catches her in time, and removes the bullet
she's been hit with, but the architect's words
prove to be prophetic.
He would have done anything to protect her,
but the path of the One requires sacrifice.
Losing her was his penultimate challenge before
he's ready to accept his fate.
His final challenge comes in the form of confronting
Smith, where he must make his final sacrifice.
There is a belief in Hinduism called Brahman,
the Ultimate Reality that unites all things.
It is the source from which all things are
born, to which all things must also return.
By defeating Smith, and allowing himself to
die, he is reunited with spirit, identifying
his soul's place within Brahman, or in the
films, The Source, thus bringing an end to
this endless cycle, and liberating Zion.
Neo becomes the true savior of humanity, succeeding
where 
the 
other Ones failed.
These are just some of the many philosophical
ideas the Wachowskis explore in The Matrix
Trilogy.
There are many other allusions and thought
experiments like Robert Nozick's “Experience
Machine”, or Descartes theory of a Great
Deceiver.
It touches on theories brought forth by great
philosophers like Kant and Hume, meditations
on questioning reality, causality and free
will, not to mention the obvious commentary
on technology or a submissive society.
The films may have their flaws, some of the
CG looks incredibly outdated, but one has
to admire the Wachowskis for attempting something
never done before in a major Hollywood film.
