Matrix, a complex and well developed metaphor

Rating: 10/10 (14 September 2005)

The Matrix is probably the most important film made in the last 20 years. There are several reasons for this, the biggest of which has nothing to do with metaphysics and "what is real?"; a question which is quite literally asked throughout most of this film.
The Matrix is a story about Neo, a computer hacker living the double life of Mr. Anderson, a person with a "job at a respectable software company" and "helps his landlady take out her garbage". Yet as No, the protagonist is looking for something just a tad out of reach and in so doing falls into the Alice in Wonderland world of the Matrix.
Neo is portrayed as sort of a savior, a single being whose promise is to win a war against a vastly superior force of super-smart and super powerful machines. And on his way to that level, Neo discovers that the world is nothing like he thought.
The Matrix is a movie brilliant on many levels, the most base of which is special effects. Some people are willing to dismiss this as nothing more then a good story, a good action film. But hold on now, I say this movie is deep. This movie has a level of subtlety that not many have caught on to.
Here's a question worth asking: why is the dream world of the Matrix set in the 20th century? What purpose did the brothers who made this film have in using this time period ad the period represented in the Matrix? In a very conscious effort on the parts of this movie's creators, the Matrix is, in a sense, a dream world which reflects our current world. This then is the metaphor that the brothers have tried to set up.
We are living a dream. Every aspect of our lives is designed to pull wool over our eyes. We understand Neo, because Neo's initial plight is relateable. In a way, this time period was chosen because it was the hight of capitalism. In my opinion, the Matrix is a movie which creates a complex metaphor where humans literally become cogs in a great machine. The literalness of being into a battery must be translated into real life. Like those living in the matrix, we in real life, are serving a system which ruthlessly and unapologetically exploits us.
Quite literally, the Matrix is the capitalist machine, dehumanizing and exploiting individual humans. That at least is the message I get from the Matrix: a harsh criticism of the capitalist machine that makes up our "real life"