The Matrix

What kind of world?

THE MATRIX
Directors: Andy & Larry Wachowski
Cert. 15

On one level, The Matrix is simply a conspiracy theory movie with a sci-fi slant, in much the same vein as The X-Files. Keanu Reeves is discovered to be a messiah come to peel away a virtual reality world created by computers to enslave humans, to defeat an apparently benevolent authority structure and set the captives free.
But beyond the often violent action, beyond the existential questions the film raises but makes no attempt to answer, beyond the implicit endorsement of mystical religions, lies the philosophical heart of the movie. What sort of world do we want to live in?
In asking this question, The Matrix has more in common with The Truman Show and Pleasantville. Do we want a world controlled by unapproachable, unaccountable and apparently omnipotent forces or do we want the world Keanu Reeves comes to bring, a world 'without rules or controls, without borders or boundaries'? Ever since Eden, humanity has gone for the second option. Personal choice and freedom are mantras of our contemporary world and so to choose to be governed, the masses must be offered something to sweeten the pill.
The Matrix acknowledges this. The virtual world the computers have made for us is a comfortable one, indeed so comfortable that humanity is safely able to forget that it's held captive. The film says that most will be unwilling to leave such a state. Just as in the affluent West, we'd rather our hurts were anaesthetised by food and clothes, TV and coffee, than face our problems head on.
The Christian response is to point to Jesus who combines total authority with a comprehensive identification with human suffering. But Christ also challenges us to look beyond the anaesthetics, beyond the symptoms to the real cause - human sinfulness. It's only as we acknowledge this, turn to him in repentance and faith and begin to live under his lordship that we discover that his rules are made for our good, to enable us to be the people we were always intended to be. Keanu Reeves dared to die to allow humanity the 'freedom' of no rules. Jesus dared to die for the ungodly to allow us to live in restored obedience to his grace. No contest really, is there? Though I doubt whether the folks at work or over the garden fence will see it that way, let's give them the opportunity.

Simon Wheeler

© Evangelicals Now - September 1999
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