rat

I think the greatest thing about this movie was that it borrowed themes from some of the great works of the twenieth century. Farenheit 451 at times, Orwellian in the paternal themes of it all. The story line I truly believe to be far more significant to The Matrix, as it strikes common chords in most of the citizens of this planet. Soviet "republics" under Stalin; Germany, Austria, Italy under Hitler and Mussolini's fascisti; Spain under Franco, and Cuba under Castro (to a lesser extent). All these places lived through times when the "party" or "father" had power over every aspect of their lives. That theme, though far from original, was taken in a different avenue entirely. Rather than burning literature for its contents, or denying access to other forms of media simply due to the contents of it, they banned the emotions created by the contents of all "EC-10" material.

The power of this movie is not solely based on the overarching theme concerning totalitarianism and its action scenes, but also the underlying theme concerning "waging peace." When going into the "Nether," the clerics themselves waged their own war, creating their own chaos, creating the very emotions they sought to banish so doggedly. Much the same as modern day superpowers and even mid-17th to 19th century powers did, the Grammaton "wages peace" by terrorism, exercising pure physical might and crushing anything other than "acceptable" forms of living. This underlying theme is directed (in my opinion) to nations such as my own (USA) that are spread throughout the world keeping it "safe" from the evil out there. Not that I don't believe we have responsibilities as the most powerful nation, but more as a warning that "waging peace" can be more damaging and terrifying than "waging war" is and has been. What good life and peace if not with freedom? What good freedom if it provides you no true life to speak of? Guess this turned into a more philosophical post than movie post, but I think the movie's strengths lay far more in its message and undercurrents of tone and theme than simply in its blatant appeal to anti-Naziism/anti-fascism/anti-sovietism

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