Free Your Mind. Review on The Matrix Movie

6 years later, and The Matrix is my No.3 movie of all time right behind Braveheart and Lethal Weapon (series).

Everything about the movie is spectacular. The story line, the neatly paced action, the music and the cast.

Most of you reading the review have seen the movie. So, I am not gonna talk of the storyline here. A lot of you have read the other reviews too, and there is some comment I found about how the movie took its ideas from Hinduism. Not to take anything away from that, but its a bunch of baloney.

The Wachowski's allowed the viewer to form their theories about the movie and make their own interpretations. However, they left a lot of clues in the movie for us to pick up.

Some examples...

You have a lot of Gnostic Christianity and Buddhism in the movie. In fact, Christian and biblical allusions abound, particularly with respect to nomenclature: Apoc (Apocalypse), Neo's given name of Mr. Ander/son (from the Greek andras for man, thus producing ''Son of Man''), the ship named the Nebuchadnezzar (the Babylonian king who, in the Book of Daniel, has puzzling symbolic dreams that must be interpreted), and the last remaining human city, Zion, synonymous in Judaism and Christianity with (the heavenly) Jerusalem. Neo is overtly constructed as a Jesus figure: he is ''the One'' who was prophesied to return again to the Matrix, who has the power the change the Matrix from within (i.e., to work miracles), who battles the representatives of evil and who is killed but comes to life again.

Thomas Anderson is Neo's name in the virtual world of the matrix. According to Gnostic Christianity, Anderson means ''Son of Man'' and Thomas is supposed to be Jesus's twin. In a sense, the role played by Keanu Reeves has a twin character, since he is constructed as both a doubting Thomas and as a Gnostic Christ figure.

Neo as the Buddha. Although the entire crew embodies the ideals of the bodhisattva, the filmmakers set Neo apart as unique, suggesting that while the crew may be looked at as arhats and bodhisattvas, Neo can be seen as a Buddha. Neo's identity as the Buddha is reinforced not only through the anagram of his name but also through the myth that surrounds him. The Oracle has foretold the return of one who has the ability to manipulate the Matrix. As Morpheus explains, the return of this man ''would hail the destruction of the Matrix, end the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix, looking for him.'' Neo, Morpheus believes, is a reincarnation of that man and like the Buddha, he will be endowed with extraordinary powers to aid in the enlightenment of all humanity.

Whether we view the film from a Gnostic Christian or Buddhist perspective, the overwhelming message seems to be, ''Wake up!'' The point is made explicit in the final song of the film, Wake Up!, by, appropriately, Rage Against the Machine.

These are but a few examples of the red herrings by the Wachowski's!

So, put on your thinking caps and watch the movie again. There is a lot to be inferred from it.