The nature of reality and how we deceive ourselves

Rating: 8/10 (12 October 2013)

My friend commented on how the theme in this movie really appeals to him at this time. There a numerous ideas that come out of this movie, and most importantly, for me to describe it, I will have to give a lot away. As such, I shall warn those who are going to read this, if you don't want your enjoyment of this film ruined, then I suggest you cease reading now.
The major theme in this movie is what is reality. As such it follows the themes of movies such as The Truman Show, News From the Good Lord and Dark City, all of which are movies that I love. The difference with The Matrix is that it is much more action orientated. As such it should appeal to those who love post-modern movies and want a lot to think about, and it should appeal to those who love special effects and huge amounts of action.
The movie is based around a man named Neo. He is a computer hacker and is being sort out by Morpheus, an unknown person. Morpheus is also being pursued by agents of some organisation that seem to be able to remove peoples' mouths, though to Neo this becomes a dream. When Neo finally finds Morpheus, he learns that everything that he knows is a dream. Reality is in fact far different. Neo is one of billions of people plugged into a huge computer system. He is there because in the early 21st century, humanity lost a war with the machines, and during that war the earth was blocked off from the sun. To get the energy they needed, the machines began to use humans. As such, they created an artificial environment in which humans live, and as they live, the machines live off of the electricity that the human brain produces.
Basically the world in which Neo lives is not real - it seems real, but in reality there are things that happen that suspend his disbelief. He asks somebody at the beginning of the movie if he ever feels like he lives in a dream. The reply is "of course, all the time" but this comes from the mouth of a drug induced person. Once Neo is out of the matrix, he learns that Morpheus considers him to be the reincarnation of a saviour, one who can manipulate the matrix to his will. He also learns that these agents are not humans but security programs created by the machine to stop the free humans from destroying their power. These security programs are incredibly powerful in the matrix, but have no power outside of it. In the matrix that can appear wherever they like, do whatever they like, and take whatever form they like. In fact they will possess other people (or personas - the person's computer image - their real existence is in a tube in the side of a huge machine).
There are a number of Christian parallels in this movie (though they are not intentional considering the idea is more Buddhist than Christian). The major one is in regards to the matrix and the reality. The world is like the matrix - it is real but we refuse to look beyond it to the heavenly realms. To us the heavenly realms are a fantasy and the world we live in is solid reality and when it comes to miraculous things then we conveniently look for a way to disprove them and if we can't then we ignore them. The truth is that heaven is very much reality, and this world is only a temporary existence created by God for us to inhabit.
Neo takes the form of a Christ figure. He was in the matrix once and began the plan to remove people from the matrix and give them back their freedom just as Christ came to Earth to die for our sins in preparation for judgement day when we face God and explain to him why he should not destroy us. Neo's return parallel's Jesus' return. At first he seems like nothing, but the oracle tells him that he will be the one perhaps in his next life. This prediction comes true as he is killed, but as he has died in the matrix, he comes back to life. The matrix is not reality, and though most people, when killed in the matrix, will die in reality, the most hardy and strong willed of people can survive - Neo is such a person - but when he returns to life it becomes evident that he has gained immense power over the matrix.
The final thing that I must raise is the description of Zion - the place where everybody will party once the machine has been defeated. This is a very biblical reference, and I think this is made in the movie as well. Zion is the hill upon which Jerusalem is built, so wherever one reads the word Zion in the bible, one reads Jerusalem. The city of Jerusalem does not correspond to the geographical city but it symbolises the place where God will live with his people. The reason that Jerusalem is used in this way is because it was the city where God's temple was built in the time of the Old Testament, and where the temple was, that was where God lived. The reference to Zion in The Matrix is a reference to the fact that when Christ returns, all who trusted in him will be in paradise, all that is rotten and decayed having passed away.