08 April 2009

10 Years of Matrix Movie - The Matrix Revolutions explained

This is the third part of three part series that aims to explain the all time classic movie - Matrix.

Standard disclaimer is that I did not write this series and I received this from a friend of mine quite sometime ago.

Shyam

The Matrix Revolutions

When Neo awakens in the Mobile Ave subway station of the Trainman he meets the programs Rama Kandra, his wife Kamala and their daughter Sati. Rama and his wife aren't just programs like the Merovingian and Persephone, but machines from the real world plugged into the Matrix. Machines can jack in. This was touched upon in Peter Chung's wonderful Animatrix short "Matriculated." They often plug in and take the guise of humans to insure the operation of the system. From their studies of humans and the previous Reloads of the system many machine have grown to love. Together Rama and Kamala created offspring, a program in the form of their daughter. But Sati serves no purpose and if they don't send her away she will be deleted by the machines. So they made a deal with the Merovingian for Sati to live with the Oracle. This act touches Neo who realizes that the machines are not evil but as capable of love as humans are.

Neo doesn't have his powers because he's not in the Matrix and his software cannot interact with this form of limbo. The Merovingian hoped this would happen because he too knew that Neo would walk out on the Architect. He knew of Neo's attachment to Trinity because his wife Persephone told him. The Merovingian himself is an interesting character, representing Hades, God of
the Underworld "a trafficker of information." You see the machines have allowed the Merovingian's secret society to exist because he is harmless and can be called upon for all the dirty little secrets and information they need, ultimately helping the system work. It's possible he may be a previous One or was one of the first malfunctioning rogue programs. Think of it as the FBI calling on the help of organized crime once in a while. He's allowed to have his safe haven for rogue programs such as the Trainman and the Twins and control of many programmer access points (back doors) so long as he doesn't threaten the system. The machines must definitely share a
relationship with him otherwise he would not have encountered Neo's predecessors or survived a Matrix Reload.

It also appears that Seraph may have worked for the Merovingian but I suspect their previous encounter was due to the fact that Seraph was the previous One. When Neo fights him in the Teahouse they match each other's every move to a standstill. Seraph does this to be sure Neo is the One. Also notice how when Seraph first shows up at Club Hel in "Revolutions" one of the bouncers says "Look, it's Wingless." or something like that. He's referring to the fact that Seraph is now an Angel with no wings having given up his power to Reload the Matrix just as Neo was supposed to.

Let's talk about the relationship between Neo and Agent Smith. The Oracle tells Neo that Smith has become his opposite, his negative. A result of the equation trying to balance itself out. Why did Neo jump into Smith to destroy him at the end of the original film? Neo probably doesn't know why himself, but I suspect that he was drawn to him like a magnet. As soon as Neo discovered his powers he did this act. It appears that Smith was supposed to be Neo's opposite all along. When Smith interrogated Morpheus in the original film he confessed that he "wanted out of this zoo." He was already growing too human and was on the path to becoming Neo's negative. He wanted to be disconnected from the system as evident when he takes out his earpiece during the interrogation. Smith's fellow agents are surprised to see his ear piece removed (Agent Brown: "What are you doing?") and if they suspected Smith's true feelings they may have sent him back to the source for deletion from the system since he was malfunctioning. Neo was drawn to jumping into Smith because the equation was trying to balance itself. The replicating program from the cookie may have copied on to him as well.

Now that Smith is reborn like Neo with some of his code written on to him he doesn't want to just be deleted from the system but shut down the system and everything else. His hatred for mankind is now equaled by his hatred for his machine creators. If Neo is the positive side of the equation then Smith is the negative with the desire to destroy everything. "I want what you want
Mr. Anderson. I want everything." When Neo is blinded by Agent Smith in Bane's body he gets a grip of how connected to the machines he really is and can see them for what they really are.

Neo knows that Smith has grown out of control and the machines can't delete him from the system. Having assimilated everyone in the Matrix, including the Oracle, Smith threatens the system, the minds plugged in and the machine world itself. The machines will lose their crops or powers source and eventually the virus that is Smith will infect them as well. To prove to the machines that peace can be reached with their creators, the human race, Neo makes a deal that if he can defeat Smith, a compromise will be reached. He needs their help to jack in because he still hasn't mastered the ability to do it alone. Only after battling it out with Smith does Neo realizes that the solution is simple. Smith tells Neo during the final moments "What a minute, I've seen this before. You were laying right there and I was standing here. And I say, everything that has a beginning has an end Neo. Wait, what did I say?" The answer is it isn't Smith who's saying this but the Oracle who Smith assimilated. When Smith assimilated the Oracle in her kitchen he laughed hysterically because he saw her vision of him defeating Neo. He would finally accomplish what he couldn't for so long and had made him so bitter: the destruction of the One. Smith has treated Neo with much disdain and never actually called him Neo. Smith is puzzled and scared because someone is speaking through him. The Oracle spoke this phrase to Neo before and what she was referring to was the war. It would end whether both sided survived or not. If Neo is +1 the positive side of the equation and Smith is -1 the negative side then when they are added together the sum is zero, which is what Neo does when he allows Smith to assimilate him. By
doing so he has effectively opened a backdoor for the machines to delete Smith from the system through him. The machines are affected by Neo's sacrifice and decide to recall their attacking army from Zion, ending the war and carrying out the Oracle's plan.

A truce has been made but as the Architect indicates to the Oracle it may be a temporary one. Mankind has a habit of sh**ting where they eat and the Oracle will have to become a mediator between man and machine to ensure that they work together to rebuild the Earth, un-scorch the skies and live in peace. How long will it last? "As long as it can," the Oracle says. The
first step has been made, the rest is up to man and machine. Even though the Oracle can predict the outcome of variables or events she didn't see all of this happening as she tells Seraph. But thanks to Neo and his dedication, "I believed." "For what it's worth, you've made a believer out of me."

Posted by Unknown at 2:43 PM

5 Comments

  1. Blogger Ravi posted at Saturday, April 11, 2009 at 1:17:00 AM GMT+5:30  
    Matrix Trilogy is my favourite movies.

    I read Journey To The Source -
    Decoding Matrix Trilogy book and watched the three movies again. The movies made perfect sense and I could really appreciate the underlying theme.
    The website for the book is http://www.matrixjourney.com/
  2. Blogger XoMash posted at Friday, July 10, 2009 at 6:08:00 PM GMT+5:30  
    I recently came across your blog and have been reading along and I thought of leaving a comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

    Free Movies
  3. Blogger Unknown posted at Tuesday, August 18, 2009 at 1:32:00 AM GMT+5:30  
    I need another question answered.. In the first movie when Neo is captured by the agents and just before agent Smith interrogates him, there is a zoom-in from an array of identical television screens to one screen which shows the room where Neo is captured.
    what is the significance of this scene? Is it connected to the second movie where they show the architect viewing similar television screens?
  4. Anonymous Anonymous posted at Monday, July 26, 2010 at 7:54:00 PM GMT+5:30  
    well men I enjoy your resume about this excellent movies sagas, but I have so many question about these movies, like Smith agent Smith, who is really this agent? Neo's contrary equation? or just another control system like most in Matrix? or maybe just a agent from viagra online to take control over the Matrix? who knows maybe all of them.
  5. Blogger Unknown posted at Tuesday, January 10, 2012 at 5:07:00 PM GMT+5:30  
    has anyone noticed or is it just me that neo is an anagram for the word "one"

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