Why Matrix Revolutions is my favorite movie.

My last few posts have all dealt with pretty heavy topics i guess, so I'll try talking about something a little more "normal" this time: movies! It seems to most people go to movies these days because it allows them to escape from pressures and monotony of their lives. Therefore most movies are filled with cheap laughs or thrills, because these are the easiest way to provide an escape. A good story though can also provide an escape, a chance for us to examine a situation unrelated to our lives, while also showing us something about life in general: an approach that a hero takes that we can look up to and emulate, or maybe a realization that despite all the problems it's never as bad as we make it seem and there is still room for what we love about life. In other words, movies can also be works art in that they can tell something about life. I goes without saying that I try to judge movies as works of art instead of as a means of escape. I try to judge a movie not based on how good it makes me feel after watching, but rather based on what direction the movie points me. That being said, here's why Matrix Revolutions is my favorite movie (in case you haven't seen the movie, these are just some quotes from random scenes in the movie that I think relate to eachother to give a really strong message):

Oracle: I made a choice, and that choice cost me more than I wanted it to.
Morpheus: What choice?
Oracle: To help you to guide Neo. Now, since the real test for any choice is having to make the same choice again, knowing full well what it might cost - I guess I feel pretty good about that choice, 'cause here I am, at it again.


Neo: I just have never...
Rama-Kandra: ...heard a program speak of love?
Neo: It's a... human emotion.
Rama-Kandra: No, it is a word. What matters is the connection the word implies.

Oracle: That's it. That's the secret. You've got to use your hands.
Sati: Why?
Oracle: Cookies need love like everything does.

Oracle: I told you before. No one can see beyond a choice they don't understand, and I mean no one.
Neo: What choice?
Oracle: It doesn't matter. It's my choice. I have mine to make, same as you have yours.

Smith: Why, Mr. Anderson, why? Why, why do you do it? Why, why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something, for more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is, do you even know? Is it freedom or truth, perhaps peace - could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson, vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself. Although, only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson; you must know it by now! You can't win; it's pointless to keep fighting! Why, Mr. Anderson, why, why do you persist?
Neo: Because I choose to.

What is the meaning of life? What does it mean to truly live? If there is an answer to these questions, is it possible for us to understand it? Is it possible for us to "see beyond" the meaning of our lives? The answer is, of course, no. The meaning of life can only be defined as life itself, because life's meaning is something beyond what definitions and logic can make clear. We only know that we are alive, and not just in the sense that our bodies are still functioning, but in the fact that there are activities that we love doing for the sake of the experience itself, because it somehow makes us feel more alive when we are doing it. The answer to the question of why we keep wanting to live more fully, instead of settling for the comfortable yet boring existence that is readily available to us provided we meet the expectations of those around us, will always come down to the fact that we choose to.