The Matrix - 1999
The Matrix needs no introduction, really. I wouldn’t be exaggerating when I say that each one of us has seen the movie. The movie has been directed by the Wachowski brothers and stars Keanu Reeves, Lawrence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss and Hugo Weaving. The visual effects of the movie are mind-blowing. It was the pioneer for the bullet time effect, which is also seen in games like Max Payne.
The film describes a world in which the Matrix is an artificial reality created by sentient machines in order to pacify, subdue and make use of the human population as an energy source by growing them and connecting them to the Matrix with cybernetic implants.
Keanu Reeves portrays the protagonist Neo, who is living in the Matrix trying to find the secret of the Matrix, and Morpheus, who is in the real world, and shows Neo the way. The movie has very close connect to Hindu concept of Maya. Morpheus extracts Neo from the Matrix, and together they decide to invade the Matrix and fight the machines through their own program. The world is just an illusion of reality created in the mind by the sentient machines. The most important concept here is that since the Matrix is a computer program, it has to run according to set rules. And rules can be bent. This is what Morpheus tries to explain to Neo when he shows him the reality. “You think that’s air you’re breathing right now?” is a famous quote by Morpheus.
The Matrix is the first part of a trilogy. The second and third parts are named The Matrix: Reloaded and The Matrix: Revolutions.
