CHRISTIAN M.

FENIS
Throughout the movie, I cant help but notice the scenes with the recurring
impression where the camera focuses on any characters face and that character
eventually quotes something thats going to leave my mind hanging for a while so I
could contemplate what has been said. Everyone was being subtle and you have to do
the thinking job to know what theyre trying to express. That somehow gives me the
inkling that these guys are trying to sound like smart philosophers.
In the world of The Matrix where everything seems to be real, its really
troublesome to accept the truth that everything you have been living for was a lie after
you knew you were hauled out of that dream world. Your extractors know they would
have a hard time explaining things for you so they just go all indirect when talking
because for me, thinking things through and seeing everything for yourself makes the
mind more aware of whats happening. It gives a more solid perception of what is
actually seen. All of the truth that has been occurring outside all this time has been
revealed.
Speaking of the truth, in relation to the Allegory of the Cave by Plato, in which
one of the movies principal concepts was referenced, The Matrix actually alludes to the
story of the unfortunate people who grew inside a cave since birth, restrained and
imprisoned, believing that everything they have seen inside that cave is what they think
to be the only reality in the world until someone pulled out one of the cavemen and
showed him what in fact reality is. This can be related to how Neo, knowing only the
world as it was during 1999, was being contacted by the other characters so they could

finally wake him up from his liquid-filled vessel where he was choked and plugged with
all those tubes and ducts and expose him to the real world. Continuing with the cave
guy, when he was taken out of the cave, he was shown what was truer than what he
was limited to before. He began to realize that his past is just a tall tale and that there
are things far more definite, tangible and genuine outside the cave. It took time for him
to adjust to the new experience and eventually learned that life back in the cave was a
big illusion. Just like this guy, when Neo awoke from his prison, he witnessed many
other vats confining his fellow humans, which is the cruel reality outside the Matrix. He
realized the actual world is no other than a wrecked dystopia and he had a hard time
digesting all the truth he had learned but got through it anyway.
What caused Neo to break free from his containment was his questioning of the
Matrix because he felt something didnt seem right with the world. His curiosity led him
to the tip of the rabbits fur. Now he knows he was just a slave in the dream world and
he can see everything in a wider perspective, unlike the billions of still-imprisoned
people living out their lives at the bottom of the rabbits fur, seemingly so contented
and preoccupied, not minding to even see things in a higher point of view and so
oblivious of the veracity that runs their everyday existence.
In the last scene before the credits, since Neo has discovered himself as the
savior of human kind, now he has a mission to make everyone aware that theyre just
living the dream and they need to get out. Its pretty much like how that one guy from
the cave went back to his comrades to educate them about the world that was hidden
from them since forever.

Another thing that I learned from the movie is that since the characters can still
sense everything in the Matrix the same way they sense everything in the real world,
the definition of real doesnt just apply to the real world anymore but is rather defined as
what the brain perceives to be real even though what it is sensing is entirely nonexistent
or just an illusion of the mind just like how we perceive our dreams they feel real but
they arent.
The Matrix is a really good film that talks about how we are always engrossed
most of the time that we seldom stop and think for ourselves how far and wide we are
seeing things the way they should be looked at from a higher standpoint. It seems that
were just satisfied with the things that we are meddling with that were losing sight of
the whole gist of our existence. Just like any other good movie, The Matrix has all these
philosophical references we just cannot fail to notice and comprehend.