Matrix: Reloaded, Video Piracy and Slavery

In less than 17 hours I and my wife will be watching the much awaited second installment in the Wachowski Brother's dark, three-part treatise on society's relentless grind towards dehumanization and the inevitability with which the human spirit will rebel against emasculation.

What is astonishing is that I will be able to see this more than 13 hours ahead of the folks who live in the Wachowskis' old stomping grounds, Chicago, Illinois. 13 hours is right about how far ahead we are, as the world turns, in terms of time.

That international and US release dates have become separated by mere days or hours (if at all), is a response to the tragedy of international video piracy. A bootleg can be up on the internet very quickly, or more typically coded to master and massively recopied in VCD and DVD format within a day of obtaining a working original or bootleg.

It seems strange, that the very region that is the source of so much video piracy should be rewarded with first dibs on the cinematic experience of this film.

I do realize that this region, and others like it outside the US are precisely where the studios lose the most money. Hence the need to compete with bootlegs directly, via the superior cinematic experience.

We'll be driving through 90 degree heat and 90% rel. humidity, walking for a bit through the same mugginess, and then sitting in a theatre notoriously cold enough to freeze my testicles off, for the sake of seeing this film early. Gratuitious fight scenes and other eye-candy aside, we're both very interested in what the Wachowskis really have to say.

I am both an anarchist and a humanist at heart, because I feel humanity is ever more enslaved to the ones in power. This film trilogy seems deliciously subversive --by it, one of the most potent drugs that are used to keep us drones compliant and distracted is now the very platform for revealing our chains to us.
Or is it? The height of perversion would be for a true testament to be the means of our continued delirium and complacency.

Are we truly free?
Or, are we merely distracted by the expensive, tiring pursuit of things we are told will define our worth, all the while filling the coffers of those in control, as we crave their falsehoods?

'Message' aside, this trilogy looks to be one heck of a fun ride.

Be a Drone.
Relax.
Go see a Movie.