Self-centered "Revolutions" ignores the majority of humanity

"Matrix Revolutions" 
2003

Matrix Revolutions is packed with kung fu fights, machine gun battles, computer 
generated special effects, and pop philosophy that made the first two 
installments of the trilogy box-office hits. Yet Revolutions spends little time 
developing what was perhaps the most interesting aspect of The Matrix and Matrix 
Reloaded: the matrix itself.

In the original Matrix we learn that almost all humanity is unknowingly 
participating in a virtual reality simulation, called the matrix, in order to 
keep their brains busy while their bodies are used as a heat source to power the 
machines that have taken over the planet. Morpheus and Trinity are among the 
small percentage of humans, headquartered in the underground city of Zion, who 
have managed to break free from the matrix. They free Neo, who they believe will 
be "the One" to finally give them victory in the war against the machines.

In the sequel we discover that it is not only humans, and machine-controlled 
agents like Agent Smith, who inhabit the matrix. It also contains programs that 
rebelled instead of performing their intended function, such as the Keymaker and 
the Oracle. These exiled programs look and act like humans, raising the question 
of whether they have somehow gained self-awareness.

Will Neo save the billions of human connected to the Matrix and free them from 
the enslavement of the machines? Are the exiled program somehow alive, and will 
they too be liberated from the matrix? Unfortunately the Matrix Revolutions does 
not give decisive answers to these questions. Instead, Neo and company seem only 
to be concerned with defending Zion. Even after the matrix is taken over by 
Agent Smith, there is no hint of how this transformation affected those humans 
who were still plugged into the matrix. If not for seeing the previous two 
Matrix films, the viewer would not even know that there are other humans besides 
those living in Zion.

The complete focus on the 1% of humanity based in Zion, ignoring the 
overwhelming majority still trapped in the matrix, echoes the extreme self-
centeredness of the imperialist nations of today's world. Thousands in the Third 
World die every day of starvation, and millions more lack basic food, clothing, 
shelter, and health care. Yet their needs are all but ignored by citizens of the 
United $tates and other first world countries, who have become rich by 
exploiting the natural resources and labor power of the rest of the planet.

Neo was once a prisoner of the matrix himself. Shouldn't this make him even more 
determined to release everyone else trapped in that condition? On the contrary, 
his motivation seems to be saving those humans who are closest to him, without 
regard for what is best for humanity as a whole. Following this line of 
thinking, is it entirely plausible that the inhabitants of Zion, should they win 
the war against the machines, would not even free those still jacked into the 
matrix. They could continue to use those bodies as an energy source, just as the 
machines had done. This would follow the pattern repeated in every era of our 
own history, of the strong exploiting the weak. In the first Matrix film, Neo 
appeared to be on the path to breaking that cycle, as "the One" who would be the 
champion of the entire human race. Sadly, Matrix Revolutions does not bring the 
epic to such a conclusion, as the fate of those humans still connected to the 
matrix, and the programs exiled there, still remains uncertain.