Bondage and Freedom

Rating: 10/10 (17 July 1999)

Not that the film needs any help -- it's a masterpiece -- but still it does help to see Bound by the Brothers W. They lay out their themes there, plain to see. Trust, for one. How can two people trust each other? The Ws say, if they feel they're the same person. Bondage and freedom, for another theme. But that's developed more in The Matrix. Here we have a captive humanity held in check by the AI -- the government, essentially (in Bound, the oppressor's name is Caesar) -- and freed by the forces of Zion (a spiritual reality that frees the mind from illusion). Neo and Trinity, who look alike (the One and the Three, reminiscent of "one God in three persons"), share a trust and a love that gives them the final liberation. The conceptual structure builds out from there with remarkable discipline. Now, can the Ws keep this up for the two remaining episodes of the trilogy?