One Hand Clapping

Rating: Null/10 (28 January 2001)

Buddhist monks ponder these little riddles, like "What is the sound of one hand clapping?" or "What did your face look like before you were born?" in hopes that their brain will not be able to process answer, and freeze up. This state of non-thinking, supposedly, enables them come in contact with _____________ (fill in the blank with your word for god).
I have this theory that the best films put us in a state of "aesthetic arrest", freezing our mind up for a second so we get (at the very least) a new perspective on life. One way good stories seem to do this is by giving us an ironic ending.
Neo wants to rule his own destiny. "I don't believe in fate." So we fight with him to create his own destiny, pushing away Morpheus with "I know what you're trying to do." and urging him to destroy the forces controlling him in the Matrix. And yet to destroy Agent Smith and be "The One", he can't be ruling his own fate, because he has fit into the mold of The Oracle and Morpheus and even Trinity (I love you so you have to be the one.) He wins everything and loses everything at the same moment.
In the original Matrix script Morpheus basically told Neo "Don't believe the Oracle and you'll be able to kill the agents." How cool is that! That's a true self-destination movie - believe yourself and only yourself and you'll stop the agents and change Fate. I wonder where along the way the script got changed.
Anyway, perhaps it was a better ending for having been the Sound of One Hand Clapping.