The Superbrawl

What? What did I just say?

I don't believe that this is the Oracle somehow talking through Smith. When the Oracle was taken over Smith was shown a future where he defeats Neo after saying "Everything that has a beginning has an end". However, Smith's vision is incorrect because he cannot see past the choice Neo has to make (the Oracle said in Reloaded that we can never see past the choices we don't understand). This lack of human understanding and a life based on causality turns out to be Smith's downfall.

No, this isn't right, this can't be right!

Get away from me!

What are you afraid of?

It's a trick!

You were right Smith. You were always right.

It was inevitable.

I've heard people complain that Neo could stop Smith copying himself onto Neo in Reloaded, so why couldn't he do it this time?

Neo wanted Smith to copy over him - from the moment Smith said the Oracle's line and referred to his nemesis as Neo rather than Mr. Anderson, Neo knew what he had to do.

This part of the film gets very symbolic. At this point in the plot the following things are brought together:

Good and evil

Positive and negative (remember the Oracle saying Smith is Neo's negative, and +1 + -1 = 0)

Hinduism, Christianity and Buddhism

Machines and humans

Choice and causality

Purpose and existentialism

From Reloaded (when Smith attempts to copy himself onto Morpheus):

"If you can't beat us...","Join us!"

Is it over?

Neo begins to jerk around in front of the DEM, almost as if he's being electrocuted...

Of course, Neo isn't being electrocuted. The golden energy flowing into Neo, I believe, is the Source itself. The force by which all machines are governed. It could be thought of as the essence of the machines.

This isn't done by the Deus Ex Machina, it's done by Neo's own will. Neo takes the Source into himself, becoming at one with the essence of the machines.

By doing this he unites machines and humans in one body, passes on his new knowledge of pure choice for when the Matrix is reloaded, and essentially becomes the Matrix. I will go into this further at the very end.

The most obvious symbolism here is Christian. The shape the Source initially manifests itself in is a cross, and by sacrificing his (real world) body he is using the essence of divinity as explained by Rama Kandra and as symbolised by Sati to save humanity and transcend the physical world.

However, there is also a strong Buddhist allegory here:

"The Buddha, sitting under the World Tree, was challenged by a thousand-armed god of death and his legions. The Buddha reached out his hand and placed his fingertips on the earth and drew into himself the essence of the Infinite God. The death god and all his armies were shattered."

Neo takes in the essence (Source) of the Infinite God (symbolised by the DEM as explained later). This connects Smith (who quite literally has thousands of arms) directly to the Source, and as the Oracle explained in Reloaded when a program returns to the Source it is deleted. This also completes Neo's buddhist journey as I will explain at the very end.

Smith's deletion completes the Hindu allegory present throughout the film. The Source manifests itself in the Matrix as white light.

This excerpt from the Brihad�ranyaka Upanishad describes the death process of the enlightened:

"When consciousness that is in the eye turns back, the dying man no longer sees any form. "He is becoming one," they say; "he does not see. "He is becoming one," they say; "he does not smell. "He is becoming one," they say; "he does not taste. "He is becoming one," they say; "he does not speak. "He is becoming one," they say; "he does not hear. "He is becoming one," they say; "he does not think or touch or know."

The Smith that Neo becomes does nothing, he does not think or touch or know. Neo has

"The point of his heart lights up, and by that light the Self departs, either through the eye, or the skull, or through some other door of the body."

Neo as the Source departs Smith's body in this white light, through the "doors of his body". Also, when Neo takes the Source into himself, the point of his heart lights up (the cross).

Following with the Buddhist allegory, Smith quite literally shatters.

Smith's scream at this point was also heard in Reloaded when Smith tried to copy himself onto Neo.

The DEM says "It is done". "It is done" is said by God three times in the Bible.

The symbolism of the DEM is very interesting; he symbolises the Buddhist idea of an infinite God. However, since I don't really have enough room to write about it here, but click here for one of my posts on MFN which explains it.

We see the Oracle lying in the mud at the bottom of the crater. The Smith Neo was fighting was the Smith that was copied over the Oracle. This also shows that when all the Smiths were shattered they left behind the bodies they had copied over.

Next page: Peace

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