What is the meaning of life? Do you believe your life is pre-determined or do you have free choice? Do you believe in fate? What is the definition of reality? 

The answers to these questions are found in big, grey plodding books, which is why you haven�t bothered to look for them.  Yeah, sure, you read them because they were mandatory reading; but now they are just a collection of fuzzy one-liners to you, sitting somewhere on a cartesian plane.  I think, therefore I am.  Quck: who said that and why did he say that?  Right. 

But what if you could find the answers to these questions in a cool movie, with great special effects, fight scenes, and great soundtrack? 

See, that�s the premise of science fiction, good science fiction. From 2001 to 2010, from the Star Wars trilogies, to the Startrek quintologies, from the barren Dune to  Mad Max; from the brilliant Bladerunner to the forgettable Imposters, good science fiction tries to answer the �deep questions.�   Great sci-fi writers like Isaac Isimov, Arthur C Clarke, Philip K. Dick all approached metaphysics from a scientific viewpoint and were interested in the power of words. �If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words,� wrote Philip Dick. 

Words and their power have been the subject of many philosophers including the brilliant (at least on the issue of languages) American intellectual Noam Chomsky.  Chomsky is arguably Eritrean scholars� favorite intellectual but not because of his theories of language, but because of his theories of politics which are very left of center. At least that is his reputation. In fact, Chomsky is an anarchist and would be horrified at the government that many Eritrean intellectuals admire�the Eritrean government�but that is another story.

Philip C Dick is the author of �Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?� which later became a Hollywood movie (Bladerunner) as well as several movies after his death (Total Recall, Imposters, Minority Report).  He would be mortified to know that there is now a religion based on him.   In the May 03 issue of Reason magazine, there is an article about a Dallas cult called the �Hot Tub Mystery Religion� which has a �recommended reading list for the faithful; it includes a collection of Tantric exercises, a text on Sufism, one of Philip K Dick�s Gnostic science fiction stories�.�   Speaking of fate and determinism, there is also an interview with Daniel Dennet on his theory of why humans are �choice machines.�   And, speaking of words and deception, the magazine also has a great profile of Vaclav Havel and why he is the George Orwell or our era�

But that is not the scope of this article, either. 

Great as they are, most of these books, once converted into a movie, lost their essence.  Partly, this was because the technology they envisioned was unavailable to Hollywood and we had to be subjected to cheesy special effects (try to watch �Jaws� without laughing, now.) 

Then came The Matrix. 

And tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you are unable to speak? 

***image1:left***Now, this is not a movie review; it is more like a movie catch-up.  You see, the sequel to The Matrix is coming (it is called Matrix Reloaded) and this is a public service to the 40+ group of Eritreans so you won�t feel left out.  It is a great movie on the power of faith and how to overcome huge odds�a classic tale of good vs evil; truth vs falsehood.  It is about identity.  It is about turning your back against conformity.  It is about choosing the red pill over the blue pill even if it is to confirm that what is true is not always what is beautiful: sometimes the truth is uglier than the lie� 

What follows then is a brief re-telling of The Matrix.  Which is why it is called the Matrix Explained� 

Thomas Anderson is a man in his late 20s or early 30's, a representative creature of a typical white-collar American worker of the 1990s.  He works for a software conglomerate in a Chicago high-rise office, stationed in a cubicle, writing programs.  His passion is computer hacking where he, assuming the pen name �Neo,� hacks into government computers and communicates with other hackers about hacking.    

The hackers have their own hierarchies of people but since they never meet, there is confusion on whether they really exist or they are just figments of some marketing creation or even the government.  On top of this hierarchy is the illusive Morpheus.  

But Morpehus does exist.  He is a leader of a resistance movement (referred to as �terrorist� by the government, of course) who commands a small, loyal group (of about half a dozen people with names like Trinity, Apoc and Tank.) Morpheus has a command post (a ship) called Nabuchednezzar and wants to recruit Neo (Thomas Anderson) because he believes he is �the one��the prophet that can deliver his people out of bondage.   To be sure, he wants to send Neo to an oracle at the Temple of Zion� you get the idea:  Nabuchednezzar, Trinity, �the one�, Zion�the religious undertones are there, but not in a bombastic, turn-offish way� 

The government intercepts the effort and arrests Neo.  They attempt to intimidate him in an interrogation room.  Says the All-American Neo: 

�You can�t scare me with this Gestapo crap.  I know my rights.  I want my phone call.� 

The government representative is Agent Smith, who, like all government bureaucrats, is a well-groomed cold fish, with no personality.  Agent Smith responds: 

�And tell me, Mr. Anderson, what good is a phone call if you are unable to speak?�

And as Neo tries to open his mouth, we see that his lips are sealed shut: the harder he tries to open them, the tighter the seal, under the steely gaze of Agent Smith.   And that's the first principle of repressive governments: See, you have freedom of speech�as long as you don�t really try to use it.

THE PREMISE

What if the world that surrounds us is just an illusion?  All the high-rise buildings, all the comforts of life, all the distractions are just a trick our mind is playing on us?  That it really is not 1997 but 2197 but time has been frozen because it is more palatable to us?   We are, as Morpheus explains, �born into bondage, kept inside a prison that we cannot smell, taste or touch.  A prison for the mind.�   Meanwhile, we live �inside the map, not the territory.�

But why would this be so?

In the late 20^th century, artificial intelligence was advanced to a degree where automations began asking for rights.  The more the human beings gave, the more the machines asked for until there was open warfare, which lasted for generations.  In the process, the whole world was destroyed, including the Sun.  To survive, the machines need energy but with the sun destroyed, where do they get it?   Here�s how Morpheus explains it:

�The human body generates more bioelectricity than a 120-volt battery and over 25,000 BTU�s of body heat.  We are, as an energy source, easily renewable and completely recyclable, the dead liquefied and fed intravenously to the living.�

So our job is to mind our business, live in our false construct, breed, die and become a source of energy for the machines.

Of course, you know people who have chosen to live in a time warp, a glorious time when everything was fine, no sign of dissent...a false construct where defeats are victories, right is wrong, and the living stay alive by denying the dead...

The Gimmicks

Of course, the movie industry being what it is, you can�t sell the above without reducing it to a �My Dinner With Andre� type of movie and hope to attract the youth.  You need lots of special effects.  Men who can fly, men who can stop bullets, machine guns that can fire 2,000,000 rounds of magazines, men and women who dress like they are on a catwalk.  To engage your mind, they must engage your senses and create a veritable feast for the eyes.   That is the stuff the over 40 crowd gets turned off by, which is a pity, because you�d be missing a great story.

For one, the fate vs choice dilemma is answered beautifully.  Neo goes to see the Oracle to see if he is the chosen one.  Like a doctor, she inspects his vital signs and then says, �this is the part where I am supposed to say, �ah� but you already know.�  �I am not the one?� asks Neo.  �Sorry, kid.  You are waiting for something.  Maybe the afterlife.�  But, later on, we know he is the one.   Was the Oracle wrong?  Was Morepheus wrong? No, she had to tell him he is not the one so he can be the one.  This is because he doesn�t believe in fate and destiny�  he first has to believe he is the one before he can become The One. The message is not just the medium; the message is the medium and the right time.

Belief

In the movie, there is a scene when Agent Smith has Neo pinned in railway tracks�.from a distance, you can hear the distinct sound of a train approaching�. �Do you hear that, Mr Anderson?� asks Agent Smith, who is sure that this man of such relatively inferior skill will be killed if he chooses to fight, �That is the sound of inevitability.�   �My n-a-m-e is N-E-O!� cries Anderson, choosing his �virtual� name over his given name and, in the process, overpowering his till-then mover powerful adversary�

What is �inevitable� is not always so.  In the fight of good vs evil, truth vs falsehood, real vs imaginary, the triumphant party is not always the powerful, or those with numerical advantage.  It is always with those who have the power of faith�believe it and it will be.

The Power of Creation

Most of the special effects for the movie were done in a San Francisco Bay Area company (in Alameda, California.)  Years ago, my other life (the one that pays my bills) afforded me the opportunity to tour the facility and watch the advanced 3-D technology that creates the mesmerizing images that have now become standard in every movie.  Not surprisingly, the small office is crowded with young men that look a lot like Neo�enthusiastically engaged in the art of creation�  

The sequel, �Matrix Reloaded�, opens next week, May 15.  Watch it in a big theatre, with surround system.  It will be worth your time. 

This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it