"1""0":A decade since we took the red pill

cachik... 
DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 
DHICHKIAYAON DHICHKIAYAON WHOOOSH 

Only human. 
DODGE THIS! 
DHICHKIAYAON 

It's been 10 years since this jaw-dropping moment in cinematic history! 
Yippee!!!! 

This was a post on The Matrix board that I put up on 31st March, 2009, the 10th anniversary of the film. As you can see, I'm childishly enamoured by this film. The way it has influenced me, I can't tell you enough about it. Simply put, I'm a Matrix geek. I know almost everything there is to know about The Matrix trilogy (barring the goings-on of The Matrix Online). And it has affected my film choices and some other significant choices in my life.

I first saw The Matrix at my friend Varun Verma's place. He had a VCD and I'd heard a lot about the film from my cousins. It was the year 2000/2001, I don't remember. Me and Anirudh Nanda had gone to Varun's house expressly to see this film. For the first time, I see the Warner Brothers' animated logo, the one where they show the factory or whatever that is (believe me, I tried finding out what that place is, but I guess my searching techniques are bad. If you know what they show, lemme know!) It's in green and then there's the grey background. And that music. And then the digital rain, the falling numbers, Matrix script. I'd already fallen in love with the film.

Many had commented that this film is difficult to understand and I agree. Because we were watching it on video, I could get my doubts clarified by pausing the video and asking Varun what was going on. It definitely is a very confusing film, but once you understand it, it opens up your eyes to so many new perspectives. The first time I saw it, I saw it just for the action sequences. Trinity jumping up and kicking that cop in the throat, Trinity jumping across the road from building to building ("That's impossible!") the agent firing and Trinity dodging and jumping through the window, down the stairs, whips out guns ("Trinity, get up. Get up, get up. GET UP!") phone booth, truck, phone, agents ("His name is Neo") zoom into the earpiece, digital rain again... You can tell I'm in love, can't you? :D

The second time round, I saw it alone at home, after borrowing Varun's CD. This time, I understood the concept of The Matrix, the virtual world, the real world. Why Neo could do the things he did, how he 'learnt' kung fu so well, so quickly, all that jazz... The funny thing is, my dad related better to it the first time he saw it. He said, "this is Hindu philosophy. A materialistic world and a real world." Even today, he brings up Matrix references when discussing spirituality and philosophy with me, because he knows I'll connect immediately. I appreciated the film better, but still was giddy when I saw/heard that guard in the hallway go "FREEZE!" That was the signal for a GOOD time! :D:D

This was before the advent of broadband Internet in India and so web time was a scarce resource. So whatever trivia or info I got about the movie was either through friends or repeated viewings of the film. Then came 2003 and the two sequels. While they're good and took the story forward well, it is the belief of every Matrix fan that nothing came close to the first film. I agree, although personally, I appreciate The Matrix Reloaded, because I think it showed us the power and responsibility of The One.

During the promotion of Reloaded, there was talk of something called The Animatrix. At first I assumed it was to be some sort of animation series based on The Matrix. And see my luck that my friends managed to see the sneak preview of The Final Flight of the Osiris on HBO and I could not. And these guys were not even fans! "Haan, kuch toh Animatrix karke dikhaya kal... Tune nahi dekha?" I was like, FAAAACK!! I've been waiting for some dope on the series for so long and this happens!!

But then, luck was to be on my side. My neighbour, who lived two floors above us, had got his hands on a 'pirated' cam print copy of Reloaded! Those days, this was a new trend. This was much before, Limewire, Ares, Bittorrent, utorrent and the likes. There was just the local video rental guy, who had his stall on the footpath, renting out pirated copies of the latest film. So I get the earliest copy of the film in the locality (piracy hounds, don't screw me please! I was deperate!) That night, I watched it and went mad. The much awaited sequel had finally arrived! And the end was such an awesome cliffhanger! The Revolutions fiasco and disappointment is another story and should not be present in this 'fluff/puff' piece. No, but really, I don't want to say bad things about my favourite trilogy. Not now.

When permanent Internet became a reality in my house, I once again steered back to The Matrix Trilogy. I followed up the Wachowski Brothers, the prodigious directors of the trilogy. I followed up the official site, read The Matrix comics (wonderful work), saw The Animatrix on youtube. Special mention for The Animatrix. I finally realized that it is a mini- series of 9 animated short films, thus making it of a combined length of 90 minutes. It gives a whole new meaning to a lot of things in The Matrix series. Especially The Final Flight of the Osiris and The Second Rennaissance. Groundbreaking animation in Kid's Story and Matriculated. Wonderful commentary on the life of those freed in Program. Watch this!

The Wachowski Brother's lead me to their next project, V for Vendetta. They're the screenwriters, not the directors. This lead me to the graphic novel. Which lead me to Alan Moore. Which lead me to Watchmen. We'll get back to Watchmen. Actually, Alan Moore lead me to Frank Miller. Which lead me to Sin City and 300. Which lead me to the movies Sin City and 300. Which lead me to Zack Snyder. And we come back to Watchmen!

V for Vendetta is a brilliant piece of fiction. While the film looks grim, it actually is very uplifting and gives us a sense of hope and purpose. The book is much darker and has anarchy reigning supreme.

Which is why I somehow liked the Watchmen translation better. It stayed truer to the book and retained it's dark ending. Not that I didn't love V for Vendetta, the movie, I did! I spout V's introductory monologue at the drop of a hat!

Another important influence the Wachowski's have had with their film is my interest in VFX. I forced my friends into doing our Trimester VIII presentation on VFX, because of my fanatical interest in Bullet-Time and what not. I'm now looking to get into that field, (coz I'm an engineer) Hopefully, it'll pave the path to me making it in films. But that is an entirely different story...

So, I must say. The Matrix has been the most influential thing to have ever happened to my life. I took the red pill and came down the rabbit hole. I saw how deep it goes... and it's been a decade since then!