By: Keith Miller

27 May 2003 Reexamining Reloaded: A Christian Perspective on the Matrix Trilogy

The 1999 release of The Matrix created a stir by combining groundbreaking special effects with an unusually intellectual story. This combination elevated the film above the average action movie, won it a cult following, and inspired endless message-board debate over the myriad answers to Neo’s question, “What is the Matrix.” The interpretations vary from Christian parable to anti-Christian diatribe and none of them are completely without credence. The writer/director team of Andy and Larry Wachowski purposely included poignant imagery to give the film a deep, religious feeling and even released the film on Easter weekend.

Now, the super-franchise has returned with its second installment, The Matrix Reloaded, and though the final film will modify its message, there is now enough information to establish the message of this science-fiction trilogy. As mentioned earlier, there are many Christians who have attempted to construe the movie as a Christian allegory. Admittedly, there are delicious morsels of symbolism that support this view. In interviews, Lawrence Fishburn makes the connection between Morpheus and John the Baptist by pointing out their common role heralding the coming of “the One.” Other names like Trinity, Nebuchadnezzar, Cipher (a play on Lucifer?), and even Mr. Anderson (andro is Greek for Man, thus "Son of Man"), are all tantalizing in their suggestion. Of course, the piece d'resistance is that the hero, born as a man, gives his life as a sacrifice, is brought back to life and then has the power to set the people free.

But all of this familiar imagery does not guarantee that the movie is indeed Christian. Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter into the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 7: 21, NIV). The message that lies beneath the religious imagery may compromise the faith. Despite the use of biblical nomenclature, the efforts to render this story a Christian allegory inevitably fail. One lack is any reference by the messiah figure to God the Father, which Christ did unceasingly. Also there is no substitutionary element in Neo’s death. Instead of Christ’s call to salvation through belief in him, the “gospel” of the Matrix is “Free your mind.”

Failing a complete allegorical interpretation, it must be asked, "What do we mean by a Christian movie?" The inclusion of Christian elements in a syncretic stew does not make the product any less false. Indeed, some of the Evil One's best lies are those flavored with truth. Most of the world's false religions contain elements very similar to those of Christianity, but God's righteous judgement against these forms of worship is unequivocal condemnation. Paul reports that those "Who changed the truth of God into a lie" earned disfavor and damnation, not consolation prizes for making an effort. So, although Christians may see figures that look familiar, the inclusion of Buddhist, Hindu, or any other false faith serves to corrupt the entire product.

Indeed, the best allegorical interpretations of the first film find that the Wachowskis’ message is much more Buddhist or Gnostic than Christian. This article, found on the official movie website, shows that the Christian elements are best understood in a broader Gnostic or Buddhist worldview. Both of these systems claim Christ as one of their stable of enlightened teachers who call on people to “Free their minds.” That article has sympathies with these anti-Christian beliefs, while this one, from a Catholic journal, further proves the presence of a Gnostic message within the first movie and details the dangers which that poses to Christian orthodoxy. (If anyone comprehends the Catholic preoccupation with Gnosticism please email me)

Reloaded mitigates some of the allegorical weight of the story by placing the vast majority of the action outside of the Matrix. But even if the Matrix trilogy cannot be cast as an allegory, its dialogue contains plenty of philosophically ponderings remains very relevant to the culture in which we live. Indeed, once we forego the effort to fit the movie into a mold, it can become very informative of post-modern man’s intellectual understanding of the essence of humanity.

Reloaded’s overriding theme is that humans are defined by their instinctive, irrational tendency to love and to hope. The impulse to love passionately and the impulse to hope against hope are two forces entirely foreign to the AI of the Matrix. Because of this, the liberated humans extol these irrational impulses. In the first film, Mouse justifies his lust for the woman in the red dress by saying, "To deny our own impulses is to deny the very thing that makes us human." This quote, seemingly insignificant at the time, presages the philosophical emphasis of the second movie.

The praise of irrational love basically reduces to a celebration of sex. Impulses drive the five-minute sequence interspersing shots of private sexual intercourse with views of a neo-primitive form of freaking. Both instinctual group sex and romantic monogamous attachment are equated as acts of machine-defying forms of humanism. Morpheus encourages the people of Zion to indulge their passions as a method to tell the machines, “We are not afraid.” There is one caveat in the endorsement of hedonism: the Merovingian and his calculative and exploitive sex are castigated. This reinforces that the Wachowskis believe irrationality is the fundamental virtue of sexual attraction. A corrupt French-program manipulating reality for adulterous ends is recognized as evil even by the Wachowskis’ humanistic standards.

Irrational hope also receives praise. The constant dialogue about the possibility of human choice hints at a conclusion, likely to be made explicit in Revolutions, that humanity is different than a computer because its final outcome is unsure. Dramatizing this opposition between man and machine, the Architect confronts assures Neo that Trinity will die and then mocks his hope that he can save her. Neo’s belief that he can forestall the “inevitable,” separates him from the Architect.

In review, there are three themes that Christians should remember when viewing The Matrix Reloaded. First, the Christian imagery is set within in a broad collage of symbolism in a way that the exclusive claims of the Christian faith are compromised. Indeed, as developed in the linked articles, the best allegorical renderings of the Matrix trilogy are those that interpret it as a Gnostic or Buddhist gospel. It will be interesting if the final scene, in which Neo stops the machines with his hand, anticipates the further elevation of the spiritual over the physical—even outside the Matrix—that will take place in the final film. Secondly, Reloaded conveys the postmodern faith in the irrational element of human nature. This corrupts the Christian virtues of hope and love, which, properly understood, are based on both faith and reason. The elevation of impulsive sex also presents difficulty to Christian men attempting to keep their thought life pure. If any reader falls into that category, the author strongly advises that he turn away during that scene. Finally, the Gnostic overtones should not prevent Christians from using this film as starting point for witnessing. Undeniably, the Wachowskis have crafted a movie that combines spiritual depth with eye-popping action sequences. This may prepare the hearts of many people to hear the gospel. Christians must seize on opportunities such as this, replacing the false doctrine with the truth.