Scene Anatomy 101 05.28.08: The Matrix Revolutions

Posted by George H. Sirois on 05.28.2008

Evolution…



It's been quite an eventful time that I've had ever since I've joined 411Mania. Ever since I started here, I've gotten a new job, watched the web site go through a huge transition, fell in love, watched my favorite baseball team flush a 3-0 lead in the playoffs, lost a cousin, gained a niece, moved into a new apartment, got engaged, turned 30, joined Jason Easley's Blog Talk Radio show, got married, watched my favorite football team beat an undefeated juggernaut in the Super Bowl, and finally gained a new cousin (my aunt and uncle adopted a girl).

That's quite a productive four-year period, isn't it? And in the four-year period that The Matrix has been a part of film history, we saw the character known as Neo (Keanu Reeves) discover that the world he's been a part of has been an illusion, break out of the prison he's actually been in all his life, be told that he is The One, then that he's not The One, then become The One.

Four years later (or six months later in the film's time period), we see Neo being given the task of reaching The Source, then being told that the function of The One is completely different than what Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) had told him. After saving Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) from certain death, we see Neo suddenly being given the gift of shutting down sentinels with his mind, something that nobody thought possible since Neo's powers could only be unleashed while jacked into The Matrix.

Unfortunately for Neo, after stopping the sentinels in their tracks, he dropped to the ground unconscious. The last moment we saw was Neo in a comatose state on one of the medical tables. We had no idea what this sudden burst would do to him… for about six months. It was in November of 2003 when we were shown the final chapter of The Matrix trilogy, the Wachowski Brothers' smash hit film…



When Neo finally awakens, he finds himself within The Matrix, which is strange since he hadn't jacked in before or after he fell unconscious. He gets to his feet and we see him in an area that we had never seen before: Mobil Ave. Or, once you rearrange the letters in the first word, Limbo.

Morpheus and Trinity are contacted by Seraph, The Oracle's protector, that The Oracle needs to see them at once. They are then informed by The Oracle (now played by Mary Alice, since Gloria Foster unfortunately passed away after completing her scenes in The Matrix Reloaded) that Neo is trapped between the world of The Matrix and the real world. Only the Merovingian has the ability to bring Neo out of Limbo, so unfortunately they have to make another trip to him and ask that Neo be freed. When Morpheus, Trinity and Seraph go to the Merovingian, who now runs a BDSM nightclub called Club Hel as opposed to the more tasteful French restaurant, he mentions that The Oracle must have found herself another shell. They don't spell out why The Oracle looks different, but it's likely that The Matrix changed her appearance in order to lose some of the absolute trust that the freed humans have in her. It's also possible that this was in The Matrix's plan for a while since the Merovingian told the freed humans in The Matrix Reloaded to tell her that "her time is almost up."

After The Merovingian requests that as payment, they send him "the eyes of The Oracle," Trinity instead puts a gun to his head and demands that he release Neo. She makes sure that he knew she was willing to do whatever it took to get him back without any regard for her own life, and the Merovingian reluctantly agrees to let him go.

While Neo waits for something or someone to pull him out of Mobil Ave., he begins having visions of sentinels speeding through corridors on their way to Zion. He can only attribute this to when he touched the sentinels and shut them down, which made him fall unconscious in the first place. As he has his latest vision, a subway train pulls up and Trinity is on it. The two of them are re-united and they immediately embrace when they see each other.

Before Morpheus, Trinity and Neo can come back out into the real world, Neo needs to visit with The Oracle. In typical fashion, when he arrives at her apartment, she is making a new batch of cookies. Neo is confused when he looks at her, since as I stated before, she doesn't look like the woman he had spoken with in the previous film.

ORACLE: So, do you recognize me?

Neo looks a little closer at her.

NEO: A part of you.

The Oracle nods, understanding what he means.

ORACLE: Yeah, that's how it works. Some bits you lose, some bits you keep. I don't yet recognize my face in the mirror, but…

She turns to him with the same warm smile that he remembers the previous version of The Oracle giving him. In her hand is a piece of candy.

ORACLE: I still love candy.

She holds it out to Neo, once again not telling him in her own way that it's up to him to take it or not. This time, he respectfully declines.

NEO: No, thank you.

She smiles again as she puts the candy away and thinks back to how far Neo has gone since he was last in this apartment. Not too long ago, he couldn't say whether or not he was The One and now that feeling seems like a distant memory to him.

ORACLE: Remember what you were like when you first walked through my door? Jittery as a junebug. And now, just look at you. You sure did surprise me, Neo. And you still do.

NEO: You gave me a few surprises, too.

ORACLE: I hope I helped.

She nods again. What Neo is talking about is not what The Oracle has told him but more importantly, what she didn't tell him. She didn't tell him how he was The One; he had to figure that out for himself. She didn't tell him what he was going to learn once he reached The Source; again, he had to figure that out for himself. And most importantly, she didn't tell how he was going to make a choice between letting all of humanity survive or saving Trinity from certain death.

Despite The Oracle knowing what Neo would have to do and what he would discover, she couldn't tell him herself or else he would just be a pawn in the whole game. He needed to have the power to make decisions on his own.

NEO: You helped me to get here, but my question is, why? Where is this going? Where does it end?

ORACLE: I don't know.

NEO: You won't know or you won't tell me?

Considering everything that he's been through, Neo's not about to accept "I don't know" as an answer from The Oracle.

ORACLE: I told you before. No one can see beyond a choice they don't understand, and I mean no one.

This includes The Oracle. She understands the choice she made to aid the freed humans in their quest to end the war against the machines. Regardless of her being a program herself created by the machines, she chose to allow this situation to evolve and see what happens. Obviously, since no other version of The One has been beyond The Source before reloading The Matrix and starting everything up all over again, she has no idea what is going to happen next.

NEO: What choice?

ORACLE: It doesn't matter. It's my choice. I have mine to make, same as you have yours.

And with each choice comes a consequence, such as her going this far to help the freed humans results in the change of her appearance.

NEO: Does that include what things to tell me and what not to tell me?

ORACLE: Of course not.

NEO: Then why didn't you tell me about The Architect? Why didn't you tell me about Zion and the Ones before me? Why didn't you tell me the truth?

The Oracle hesitates for a moment. It's very probable that he's not going to like the answer she has for him.

ORACLE: Because it wasn't time for you to know.

NEO: And who decided it wasn't time?

She glances past Neo as she answers him.

ORACLE: You know who.

Neo follows The Oracle's gaze and looks up at the Latin sign above the kitchen doorway. Remember, it says "Know Thyself." Neo takes that to heart and remembers how willing he was to accept everyone's words back when he was first freed. Morpheus had told him that he was The One. The Oracle then told him he was not The Ones, and he believed them both.

NEO: I did.

Now, he's literally evolved before our eyes. He can do things that he never thought he could do before, and more importantly, he knows he can do these things. The only thing he doesn't know is how these latest abilities came about. And both Neo and The Oracle decide that it's time for him to know more about what's going on.

NEO: Then I think it's time for me to know a few more things.

ORACLE: So do I.

NEO: Tell me how I separated my mind from my body without jacking in. Tell me how I stopped four sentinels by thinking it. Tell me just what the hell is happening to me.

The Oracle takes a nice long drag on her cigarette and then leans back. What we're about to hear is the most direct answer that she has ever had for The One.

ORACLE: The power of The One extends beyond this world. It reaches from here all the way back to where it came from.

NEO: Where?

ORACLE: The Source. That's what you felt when you touched those sentinels, but you weren't ready for it. You should be dead, but apparently you weren't ready for that either.

What she's talking about is The Source that Neo was supposed to return to, as the previous versions of him have done in the past. What Neo – and everyone else – believed was The Source was really the literal "fork in the road" where Neo was given the choice of the two doors.

The actual Source is the machine city, the true central point to where everything in the real world is generated. The Matrix, the sentinels, the pods where humans are being sustained, everything. And ever since Neo touched the sentinels, he has created a rapport with them. He can see what they see, and later on, he will be able to see as they see.

NEO: The Architect said that if I didn't return to The Source, Zion would be destroyed tonight.

The Oracle's response is exactly the same dismissive tone that The Architect had when her name was mentioned. Just like I said last week, just because you work with someone doesn't mean you have to like them.

ORACLE: Please. You and I may not be able to see beyond our own choices, but that man can't see past any choice.

NEO: Why not?

ORACLE: He doesn't understand them, he can't. To him, they are variables in an equation. One at a time, each variable must be solved, then countered. That's his purpose, to balance the equation.

NEO: And what is your purpose?

ORACLE: To unbalance it.

This is the perfect way to explain what The Architect said was the purpose of The Oracle in the previous film. While The Architect yearns to make sure that there is a zero balance to satisfy himself, the only thing missing was an actual human element. There was no way a logical thinker like him could factor in the many different choices that humans are capable of making, so The Matrix needed a program that could "think like a human."

Therefore, as The Architect tries to mathematically balance the equation, The Oracle enters the human element to effectively unbalance it. What you wind up having is a simple stalemate, where neither the logical or illogical side is superior.

NEO: Why? What do you want?

ORACLE: I want the same thing you want, Neo. And I'm willing to go as far as you are to get it.

NEO: The end of the war.

The Oracle nods.

NEO: Is it going to end?

ORACLE: One way or another.

Just like what she had said before, no one can see beyond the choices they don't understand. She knows that considering no other version of The One has come this far, the true ending can't be far away. But she can't say who is going to win when all is said and done.

NEO: Can Zion be saved?

ORACLE: I'm sorry, I don't have the answer to that question. But, if there is an answer, there's only one place you're going to find it.

NEO: Where?

The Oracle looks past Neo again, looking up at the Latin sign.

ORACLE: You know where.

Neo nods, understanding what she means. This puts quite a bit of burden on his shoulders, but then again, he should be used to that by now. He did just choose to go back into The Matrix to save one person rather than return to The Source and save all of humanity.

ORACLE: And if you can't find the answer, then I'm afraid there may be no tomorrow for any of us.

NEO: What does that mean?

She puts out her cigarette and starts to speak just like Neo suspected someone called The Oracle would speak.

ORACLE: Everything that has a beginning… has an end. I see the end coming. I see the darkness spreading. I see death. And you are all that stands in his way.

NEO: Smith.

This is the first time that Smith is being discussed by The Oracle with Neo. Ever since he was destroyed by Neo, Smith has been the wild card that neither humanity or the machines saw coming. And all he's done is multiply himself, possessing the minds of every living human being that has provided battery life for the machines. He even went so far as to possess a freed human, allowing his essence to reach beyond The Matrix and into the real world.

ORACLE: Very soon, he is going to have the power to destroy this world, but I believe he won't stop there. He can't. He won't stop until there's nothing left at all.

This is definitely not the average agent, especially since he has made a point to show that he has been unplugged from the machines.

NEO: What is he?

ORACLE: He is you. Your opposite. Your negative. The result of the equation trying to balance itself out.

So Smith was somewhat correct when he told Neo in the previous film that something happened after he was destroyed. Somehow a piece of Neo was copied and he was re-created and given the ability to copy himself. The two of them are exact opposites regarding what they want. Neo wants to make sure that every human being is free, while Smith wants to make sure that every human being is a slave to him.

NEO: And if I can't stop him?

ORACLE: One way or another, Neo, this war is going to end. Tonight, the future of both worlds will be in your hands… or in his.

And so the line in the sand has been drawn by The Oracle. It is up to Neo to find out how the war can end and how Smith can be defeated once and for all. He will have to use not only all of the gifts that he has gained inside The Matrix, but he will also have to use his newfound rapport with the machines in the real world.

This is the typical setup for the third act in a trilogy. The first part of the film dealt with the rescue of Neo since he had fallen into unconsciousness after stopping the sentinels. His mind had to be recovered and rejoined with his body. Once that was accomplished, Neo had to speak with The Oracle in order to find out exactly what had happened to him and what he must do next. By shifting the conversation to Smith, what The Oracle did was similar to Yoda telling Luke Skywalker in Return of the Jedi that one final task laid before him if we were to become a true Jedi; he must confront Darth Vader.

Since The Oracle is the one that brought up Smith, we now know that while the freed humans must do their best to hold off the sentinels, it's up to Neo to face Smith. This is the primary problem that has contaminated the human world, the machines themselves and The Matrix. And Neo now has a rapport with all three of those worlds, so he would be the only man capable of stopping him.

This is what it means to be The One. Neo is the representative of the human race, and he will hold the fate of the machines in his hands when he faces Smith one last time. Only by defeating him will he be able to truly re-load The Matrix and return it to its peaceful state. It wasn't until he left The Architect and chose to save Trinity that he was allowed to evolve into the central point between all three worlds.

Yes, the title of the film is The Matrix Revolutions, but only Neo discovering his evolution into the savior of literally the entire planet will allow The Matrix itself to continue its revolution into its original state. Just as the title shows, the true answer is hidden within the word. You can't have a revolution without an evolution.


I'm so glad to have finally completed this trilogy of columns, and what better time to do them than for my four-year anniversary at 411Mania. It's also the perfect stopping point for Scene Anatomy 101 as I go on my one-month hiatus. I have a lot of different columns in mind for when I come back, but I have to take this time to take another shot at writing fiction. It's been too damn long, but the "National Novel Writing Month" challenge will provide me with the ultimate tool that has been at my disposal at this site for the past four years: a deadline.

I'll be going on a bit more about this in tomorrow's UBS Evening Movie News report as I shut that down for a month as well. But before I go, I wanted to thank everyone who made a point to read this column for the past 175 issues. Just 25 to go before I hit the big 200, and I'm really looking forward to hitting that milestone. It's good to know that there's going to be some readers that will be taking that trip with me.

Until July 2, Class Dismissed!!!


-- George H. Sirois