2. The Matrix (1999)
The Idea Super hacker and cyberpunk Neo (Keanu Whoa Reeves) is targeted by a group of underground rebels (Carrie Ann Moss; Laurence Fishburne; Joe Pantoliano) in order to reveal to him the truth about reality and, on a larger scale, pave way for a human revolution.
The Dream Angle The Matrix is one of the few films that not only qualifies as a cinematic experience, but also leaves a polarising and often debated legacy. A multi-million dollar, studio produced American movie doesnt immediately strike up connotations with literature that predates Christ and inter-continental philosophies, especially when set in motion against a backdrop of the Japanese anime subculture and incredibly relevant concerns about modern technology but this is what makes The Matrix a film worth writing a thesis on. Revolutionising the action movie genre aside, at its core the film is set on two basic principles: Freedom and Humanity. The Matrix is a humanist film, and this idea is linked very much so with lucid dreaming, which itself is a derivative of self realisation, meditation and in a grander sense, existentialism all constant battles against the crippling emotional stress we endure and about gaining the ability to supersede the chaos and uncertainty that is brought about by the very nature of being human, in an attempt to try and comprehend the human condition.
The Wachowskis employed the idea of conscious dreaming in a novel way for The Matrix. Rather than make it a glaringly obvious centerpiece (until of course, one takes a step back and analyses the story structure), it is instead liberally applied to the two realities that are simultaneously existing that of the Real World and that of the Matrix. The Matrix is described as being a place in which the laws of physics, once recognised as being false, can be altered and broken, whereas the Real World abides by true quantum mechanics. The parallels now become glaringly obvious. The Matrix is a dream in which every living creature is hoodwinked by a superior intellect into thinking they are awake. This is exactly the same when a person dreams, one part of the mind is telling them that all of these events are truly happening, and their archived memory of sensory elements, be it how sandpaper feels when it is touched or how steak tastes when eaten, helps further the illusion. It is only once a person is unplugged or woken up from The Matrix they can realize just how much control can be exerted over it. This idea is a hybrid of René Descartes Dream Argument and Simulated Reality, a hypothesis surmising that reality as we perceive it is a simulation run by supercomputers that are incomprehensible to our minds.
Verdict It is difficult to really summarise The Matrix in a short space. If you are really interested in philosophy and are willing to challenge your perceptions and knowledge, this is a film I strongly suggest you watch and do follow up reading on Descartes and Zhuangzi then watch again and again, because irrespective of the critical response to the action and the slight humourlessness of the film, Joss Whedon stated it best when he said,
It works on whatever level you want to bring to it. ( "The 201 Greatest Movies of all Time". Empire (Issue 201). March 2006. p. 98.)