The Matrix

On Wednesday we were shown The Matrix, a famous 1999 action sci-fi movie looking at reality and simulated realities. The story follows a computer hacker named Neo, who is found by a group of rebels who jump between reality and the simulated world, which created by machines to feed off humans energy, known as "The Matrix". The rebel group aim to free the minds of the human race, however they are in search of "the One" the only person capable of overthrowing the machines and agents within the false reality, they believe this to be Neo.
The interesting part of this film was in the confusion of reality and dreams, never quite knowing, until your mind is awoken to the true reality. I found the dream aspect of the film similar to Waking Life by Richard Linklater, an animated film about lucid dreaming, both films struggled to differenciate between dreams and realities, searching for answers about life and reality.
How do we know that we are not dreaming, and how do we know when we are? If you have as much control in your dreams as you do in reality how do you tell the difference? If you have a memory, how do you know whether it was real life or just a vivid dream?
My dreams are often very realistic, so I find myself asking these questions occasionally, especially when trying to differenciate between memories of dreams and memories of life.
The film was quite different to recent films screened, but quite enjoyable, I'd seen half the movie before, so I had a vague idea what it was about, however this time I followed the film more successfully and gained an understanding for the concept being portrayed.