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Friday, February 27, 2004
Open Your Eyes
I'm really tired. Nobody responded to my last post, because there probably wasn't much to respond to. I pretty much addressed Lea and Boba exclusively though, so you guys can go back into my archives if you'd like to read what I said.
Today, I read an article by Bernard White, who played Rama Kandra in The Matrix Revolutions. His article is called "My Defense of Zion". It's quite a lengthy article and it doesn't set out to explain the trilogy in any comprehensive way.
But...it does address the negative reviews. And it points out why they are largely unfair.
Here is the link to the article: http://www.matrixfans.net/editorials/bernardwhite.php
And here are a couple of specific quotes from it.
"I thought to compare this movie to another famous and complex anti-war work of art. Picasso’s GUERNICA. At first look, it’s an aggressive mess. The viewer doesn’t know what he’s looking at. For appreciation, it demands a look closer. It demands the love that allows one to look closer.
I was able to do this the second time I saw THE MATRIX REVOLTUIONS.
I have now seen it an additional 5 times. Making it an even 7.
The movie is nothing, I mean nothing, short of brilliant.
The depth and complexity is well worth the closer look, that, it seems to me, some of these critics were not willing to take.
It seemed to me that they did not want to risk falling in love with this film.
Why?
I believe it has to do with betrayal.
Not wanting to be betrayed, not wanting to buy into the overdone hype of the Warner Brothers Publicity Machine.
Not wanting to reward this quiet underground discovery of theirs turned Hollywood Blockbuster.
They will, of course, site things like “wooden performances” and “clunky dialogue”. An “uneven and confusing storytelling” that they feel amounts to a kind of sound and fury signifying nothing.
I will not stop short of saying that with this movie as the culmination of this trilogy, we have seen the deepest and most complex original modern mythology to ever be put on film. (I exclude LORD OF THE RINGS, since it is based on JRR Tolkien’s classic novels)."
"In the mythical world that they have created the war is between man and machine. It is as bitter a war as any. What the machines did to the humans is in line with what the Colonial Powers did to the Africans in the slave trade. What the humans did to the machines can be compared to the genocide of the Native Americans and the holocaust of the Jews. (see the Animatrix).
So, these two sides have some animosity toward each other. A long and bitter and cruel war, in deed.
And then if RELOADED blurred these lines, than REVOLUTIONS obliterated the lines all together, in a literal explosion of light.
Good didn’t conquer evil, they balanced each other in the attainment of peace. And thus bringing on the dawn of a whole new era.
I believe these critics, who say that THE MATRIX is a mish-mosh and a shallow sampling of many spiritual and philosophical traditions, aren’t willing to look deep enough into these traditions to really see that it is not a mish-mosh but rather a monumental integration of these traditions. Especially the integration of Hindu and Christian thought."
"These movies are not simplistic.
They cannot be dismissed by labeling them over-hyped and failed Hollywood Blockbusters.
They certainly cannot be written off like Peter Travers in Rolling Stone (that bastion of forward thinking) did by saying “To put it simply, this movie sucked.”
They ought to be considered for the serious works of art that they are.
Of course, there’s room for criticism.
Some of the dialogue is clunky. Some of the performances are wooden.
But to get back to my original point, (yes, I inhabit that world of still trying to make points) for the criticism to be genuine, it must be made through the prism of love.
I am much more eager to listen to the genuine disappointment of the real fan, than to the critic who lacks investment.
REVOLUTIONS is just too filled with light, for it to not be given this kind of serious consideration.
So critics, here’s my unsolicited advise to you; Turn off the lights in your back rooms as they did at that theatre in Westwood. Don’t force your viewing by covering up the beauty of yet another work of art as they did with the organ at Disney Hall.
You must see the film, being in the right place. The right place, both inside and out.
My advise is to see the film at the IMAX. Sit somewhere in the center, right in the middle of the action. Have the Bhagavad Gita in your back pocket and some buttered popcorn on your lap.
Give yourself another chance to fall in love."
I like the last quote the most.
If they interest you, please read the entire article. Mr. White actually starts off saying that he was disappointed (and somewhat angry) about the movie. But when you see how things develop...well, hopefully you'll reach the same conclusion as Mr. White.
Biggest injustice in the history of film making.
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