(Note: spoilers ahead)

I HAVE A SOFT spot in my heart for deliverers, especially those warriors whose prophesied advents are awaited by world-weary souls in scathed lands. In Tolkein's trilogy, The Lord of the Rings, the dark devastated land of Mordor -- one of many lands in Middle Earth -- could not be more in need of a Savior. But none of Mordor's dwellers are awaiting deliverance. And the other lands of Middle Earth don't look as if they need a savior either. True, evil, a sleepless malice from the east, is encroaching. But, for the most part, life in the better neighborhoods of Middle Earth continues as it always has.

As for the Matrix, Neo, the deliverer of Zion, lacks the fatherly love that is requisite for a Savior. Perhaps the writers of Matrix wanted Neo to be as cold as a machine in order to fight the machines on their own level. But Neo is grim and unemotional to a fault. There, I've said it: in my humble opinion, a great deliverer saves from "actual mayhem" and has "noblesse oblige," an obvious love towards those he has been appointed to save. Tron, for example, featured a great deliverer. As did the Ten Commandments. As did Star Wars. Hey, even the Lion King had a great deliverer. And in the myth of history, JFK and Robin Hood weren't bad warrior-leaders. But I was willing to work with both Matrix and Lord of the Rings.

I must admit now, Dear Reader, a certain intellectual bias on my part. "Coming evil" does little for me. True, the "potential" for harm and "imminent" danger can be just as troubling as "actual" harm and "actual" danger, but I really have to be convinced.

Both The Matrix and The Rings have Christian symbols galore. Tolkien's trilogy was written by an actual self-proclaimed Christian and, well, Matrix had Christian-sounding names such as Zion and Trinity. Both urge us to conquer evil instead of acquiescing to it. Both certainly affect fashion trends. And both accept the basic truth that only the truly physically beautiful can save the world.

But both fail and succeed for different reasons. The Matrix is more New Age than Christian, more multicultural than "homogeneous," more sexually balanced. The Matrix certainly does a great job at showing the need for spiritual enlightenment and discernment. It definitely shows that those who are spiritually alive are in danger in a world where being spiritually asleep is the norm. But the story and the philosophy is not cohesive. It is neither as tight nor as well-wrought as The Rings. And although it uses religious trappings, it has no real spiritual anchor. It is more a story about societal machinations than it is about the spiritual evil that destroys men's soul. And always, always, there is the uncomfortable feeling in the viewer that the writers don't really believe what they've written, that despite some heartfelt insights about modern life, the story was really meant to make money. That is: It's hard to feel passionate about a story when the writer's own passion seems to have lost steam. Quite simply: the writer himself doesn't seem to believe it; why should I?

Lord of the Rings, on the other hand, is cohesive, grounded in its theology and its world and does a great job depicting the attractions of sin. The lure of the One Ring is addiction of the deepest emotional order. The viewer utterly understands that "Precious" has ensconced itself into the very deepest emotional core of both Frodo -- a non-royal savior -- and the never-to-be-delivered Gollum. To tear it away from either being would mean heartbreak. In addition, Tolkein's trilogy is wonderful folklore. It rings true, as all great epics do. But director Peter Jackson has created a fil that is preoccupied with its own beauty. It even loses its bad guy, turning him into nothing more than an eye, when he should have loomed even larger. In my opinion, this obsession with the good and the beautiful seriously sidetracks the deliverer myth on which the entire trilogy is based. The general preternatural beauty of the cities and lands of Middle Earth don't hint at cities that cry out for delivering. Not yet at least. The towers and balustrades reaching into the sky, the verdant fields and mountains, the lake palaces and ivory columns, the aquamarine waters -- and all those extremely lovely and gorgeous people -- all belong to a world which does not as yet know devastation. True, these lands are meant to be primeval Eden, the uncursed land of our dreams and myth. And true, many folks in this day and age have such Euro-visions in their subconscious. But in actuality, most people live in devastated mental landscapes and primeval Eden is expensive real estate that only the upper middle class ever see? Let's face it, emotionally, spiritually and societally, the Matrix is where many folks -- of all races -- are at. The sight of all these pure good happy white faces dreading the coming "dark" hordes can make a black reviewer squirm in her chair.

Am I saying that I hated either Matrix or Rings? No. I'm not. I liked them. I liked Rings for its theological niceties. And for its beauty. And I liked Matrix for its vision of a present devastation, a devastation that is not to come but which IS, a destruction and a fight which is eternally here: physically, socially, spiritually, psychologically. Let's face it: the folks in Rings need a savior "for the nonce." The pesky Sauron is threatening to mess with the status quo, a very beautiful wonderful status quo, I will have you know. A king is needed to keep all things in stasis.

Both trilogies had affecting scenes. The valiant hope of the sieged citizens of Zion certainly touches the heart. And Neo's death in Matrix, while not particularly Christian because Neo's death does not bring resurrection, still shows a Deliverer's self-sacrifice even though his death seems to more about destroying the machines than loving humanity. As for the enthroning of Aragorn, I'll admit it: I smiled. Who doesn't want to see good crowned at last, and evil vanquished? But shall I tell you which scene in what film really brought the Christian message of a Deliverer home to me? It is the scene where Aragorn the soon-to-be-crowned king harrows hell. Oh, he didn't actually say, "Be ye lifted up ye everlasting gates and the king of glory will come in!" Ah, but he might have! When he encounters the lost dead warriors who had failed their mission all those ages ago, one can almost hear the cry, "Who is this king of glory?" And I, for one, was overjoyed when the King Returned to these lost warriors. These Waiters were in the middle of devastation that the Orcs -- lost but with no desire for salvation -- and the pure pre-Fall denizens of Middle Earth could never understand. These are folks who need a savior and a deliverer now. These are folks whose lives have been returned to them with the coming of the King, old soldiers who would have well understood their counterparts in the great besieged city of Zion.

Christina Keimig Wow, Carole. What an interesting reflection! Thanks for the links and the compare/contrast analysis! Use the form below to give feedback on this movie, or to respond to this article. Remember, we want to hear what your opinions are, not just why other opinions are wrong. Comments will be posted within 48 hours. NAME: E-MAIL: Would you like your comments posted? Yes No Would you like to receive our monthly newsletter? Yes No

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