In the Beginning, two brothers created a Movie. And the Brothers said, "Let there be Kung Fu and Sci-fi, Special Effects and Lots of Guns, and Women in Black Latex Jumpsuits ..."
And the People saw the Movie, and they saw that it was Good. But the Brothers wanted something more.
To make their creation truly special, they peppered the story with Theology and Philosophy, and said, "Let there be enough scholarly allusions to fill the Movie and two Sequels. Let Academics, sci-fi Geeks and Seekers of the Spiritual parse every scene, every frame, for infinite celluloid Wisdom ... "
And the brothers -- Andy and Larry Wachowski by name -- saw the reaction, and saw that it was Good. And their studio, Warner Bros., saw the box-office grosses. And that was very Good.
The "Matrix" trilogy, which comes to an apparent conclusion with the opening tomorrow of "The Matrix Revolutions," presents a veritable smorgasbord of religious references that viewers have picked over since the original's 1999 release.
That design has drawn in an army of interpreters, from college campuses and sci-fi conventions to the Internet. There's already a short shelf of books on the subject, including the recent "The Gospel Reloaded: Exploring Spirituality and Faith in 'The Matrix.' "
The diversity of traditions was not greeted warmly everywhere. In Egypt this spring, "The Matrix Reloaded" was banned because of its violence and "religious themes." (Note the plural.) Some Egyptian critics claimed the film promoted Zionism, apparently due to the fact that, in the trilogy, the last human stronghold is called Zion.
Academics, fans and censors have been weighing the sacred and/or profane content of works of art since antiquity. But "The Matrix" films represent something fairly new:
It's at once a sleek piece of modern storytelling and a religious allegory that can be puzzled over with equal vigor by members of a variety of faiths, from Christian evangelicals to Islamic fundamentalists, and everyone in between -- as well as agnostics, atheists and those who just don't care.
"Virtually any image can be coded in two different ways, maybe three different ways," said David Morgan, who lectures on Christianity and the arts at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Ind. "It's unusual when it's more than that. ... What's interesting about 'The Matrix' is that there are multiple, multiple interpretations."
When "The Matrix" was first released, few critics missed the fact that the film's spine is an elaborate retelling of the Passion, in which a tormented young man is "awakened" to a bleak reality and tasked with mankind's redemption.
But then there are the covert touches: When we first meet him, Keanu Reeves' character goes by the name Thomas Anderson: Thomas was the saint who began as a doubter; the surname can be translated as "Son of Man." His hacker alter ego, Neo, is Greek for "new" and an anagram for "One," as in "The One." His mentor Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne) is a stand-in for John the Baptist; the traitorous Cypher (Joe Pantoliano) serves as Judas.
You can find hundreds more references on Web sites and bookshelves, including some fairly elaborate details: An entire subset of fans spotted a Biblical chapter-and-verse notation on the heroes' hovercraft.
But Christian references are only the first stop on the tour. Eastern mysticism, Buddhism, Gnosticism, Bahaism, classical mythology and more are woven into the films' scripts and visual design.
Egyptian officials aside, creating a story that taps into the deep wells of emotions that we bring to religion is a wise aesthetic move -- and, in a world suddenly gripped by competing religious visions, it's pretty good marketing -- one of the many reasons that the trilogy is sure to cross the $2 billion mark with "Revolutions."
"If I am a 'blank' (fill in) -- whatever my religious background is -- then those are the terms that I am familiar with, (and) those are the ideas, concepts, stories that I can bring to bear on interpreting a film," said William L. Blizek, the editor of The Journal of Religion and Film and a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
Hollywood has appealed to audiences' craving for stories of faith with religious films both devout ("The Greatest Story Ever Told," "The Ten Commandments") and sublimely ecumenical (from "Field of Dreams" to "Close Encounters of the Third Kind" and "Star Wars," allegories of a common man's election to a kind of divine madness).
Religion affects how we view art, but the process works the other way, too.
"It's not only religion that has inspired art, it's also art that has inspired religion," said Philip Goff, director of the Center for the Study of Religion and American Culture at Indiana University. "(The public's) understanding of the world around them is influenced by film, by art, by fiction, and they carry that into church with them on Sunday."
Religious institutions have known for centuries that what people see in statues, paintings and, later, movies affect how they think of matters of faith. Much of the early iconic images of Christianity were commissioned by the Vatican or devout merchants. But these works were usually orthodox in their message.
(There are exceptions, such as Hieronymus Bosch's phantasmagoric 16th-century paintings such as the terrifying, uplifting "Last Judgment.")
These days, popular culture pays the tab and frames the images. How many Christians conjure up Charlton Heston when the story of Moses is called down from the pulpit?
If "The Matrix" draws from a variety of faiths, what will it put back in? Perhaps, scholars suggest, it's a recognition of the growing trend in blending traditions and beliefs. Theologians have been tracking the growth of what might be termed "homemade theology," in which individuals custom-fit personal belief systems from inside and outside the confines of the traditional church, mosque or temple. To them, there is not one answer.
(The overt theme of "The Matrix Reloaded," not coincidentally, is choice, as in the individual's ability to affect his own destiny.)
"The popularity of a film like this means people are more open already to thinking about religious issues, entire world-view issues," Goff said. "There is a ready-made audience out there."
Goff cited polls that suggest that a growing number of Christians believe in reincarnation, a tenet of Eastern religions. This mix-and-match is the heart of "The Matrix" mythos.
The Wachowskis' films, Goff said, are "picking and choosing from different traditions. That's why it's resonating with the public, because the public is already there; Hollywood is just catching up.
"And Hollywood," he said, "will go where the money is."
Amen to that.