The Matrix

Director: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Producer: Joel Silver
Screenwriter: Andy Wachowski, Larry Wachowski
Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie Ann-Moss, Hugo Weaving, Joe Pantoliano
MPAA Rating: R
Year of Release: 1999
Released on Video: 09/21/1999

This film poses a questions about reality. In the flashy, fast-paced blockbuster, the hero, Thomas Anderson, is a computer programmer by day and a hacker by night that goes by the handle, Neo. Having plumbed the deepest recesses of the global computer network (and along the way breaking almost every known computer-crime law on the books) he has come to be haunted by an irrational but unavoidable hunger to learn about something called the Matrix.

As the film opens, Neo is sought out by a mysterious woman who introduces him to Morpheous. Morpheous shows Neo that the world he thinks is reality is in fact an elaborate computer simulation called the Matrix. The Matrix is an illusion maintained by the machines that run the world in order to keep their human slaves unaware of their true condition. The humans are farmed as energy cells and live out their entire lives unable to move, trapped inside Plexiglas cases filled with pink liquid and feeding the electrical grid.
Morpheous and his crew have escaped from their cells and are on a mission to free as many others as they can. But in order to do so they must re-enter the Matrix so they can locate and communicate with individuals judged ready to withstand the shock of the transition to reality.

Viewing Suggestions:

While you watch the movie be aware that our beliefs can help us or they can mislead us. We form them unconsciously, without carefully examining all the evidence. Therefore, our beliefs about ourselves and about people are often less than completely reliable. Sometimes they are out of sync with objective reality. Such mistaken beliefs can limit what we see and cause us to act against the best interests of those we love and ourselves. Fortunately, when we discover we are holding a misleading belief, we are not stuck with it forever. Beliefs can change.

Ask Yourself:

- Does your intuition tell you or have you repeatedly heard from well-meaning honest friends that these beliefs are not true?
- Are you willing to consider questioning these destructive beliefs as you question Thomas Anderson’s computer reality?