On Memories About the Matrix
Let me start with one fact: Matrix is the best sci-fi movie ever made. Period.
I have very fond memories of Matrix, as I had seen it in binge-watching mode even before it was a thing. It is the only movie that I have seen more than eighty times. Yes, eight-zero.
Watching the first five times, I was mind-fucked. I could not understand the head and tail of it. I wasn’t used to watching with subtitles like now with Netflix or Amazon Prime. It was already hard to appreciate movies in English because of their accent and subtitles-less dialogues. On top of that, this movie was philosophical and meta at multiple levels.
The fantastic action sequences kept me hooked in the initial times. We used to have discussions in the late nights on what we understood out of every watch. Everybody used to come up with their theories. We used to validate and invalidate them by watching it the next day. Yes, we used to study for the exams, in between the movies 😆. This was how our study-holidays used to be.
It is so fun to peel the onion of Matrix during every watch. The dialogues are legendary, and it used to be a mantra. I used it in emails then to simply show-off 😁.
I watched it again this weekend. One scene stood out stunningly. I could remember that it was stunning for me during every watch.
The scene in which Neo (or Trinity) learns new skills in seconds. Neo learning Jiu-Jitsu, Kung Fu and Trinity learning to fly a helicopter.
In the past two decades, I am obsessed with learning things faster and quicker. I have burnt my fingers by doing things that one shouldn’t do to learn. In that experience, I have also come across the techniques and tools that help to learn faster. Maybe, me watching Matrix obsessively in my formative years has had this effect in my subconscious mind, I think.