World on a Wire

Saw World on a Wire, a film originally broadcast on TV in two two-hour parts. The film opens with the head of a research project mysteriously dying. The project is a simulation of the real world inside of a fantastic super-computer. The protagonist is his assistant who is promoted to head lead following the scientist's death. The film is now at its most exciting, laying out its themes and building a world. A theme of identity is immediately and obviously of great importance in this film.

In a world where a perfect replica of our own exists, the immediate question is "how do we know that we are not also a simulation?" The project is part of a top-secret government project making identity a slippery subject. At one point a man disappears mid-conversation with the protagonist. Everyone denies seeing him and the computer databases, of course, deny his existence. It is an otherworldly, Lynchian moment where we're not sure if the shadowy government has disappeared this person, if he has simply left abruptly, or if he's an artifact of what will be revealed to just be a simulation. Soon after, a detective mistakes the protagonist for another man and the protagonist freezes up, terrified that now his identity has been swapped or erased. Of course, this is just an innocent mistake.

This theme comes up many times. The protagonist's secretary is changed for a more attractive woman. She refers to herself as a "gift" with the clear implication of anonymity and exchangeability. She introduces herself with her measurements: 29-24-39, clearly mimicking the serial numbers of the simulated people. Mirrors are often used as cinematic shorthand for deception and unreality and so mirrors abound in this film. The film opens with the original project lead challenging a man to say what he sees when he looks in a mirror. The obvious answer is "myself" but this answer glibly removes any identity behind the image. A more obvious image, of a person standing between two mirrors, is also used. Their image, multiplied to infinity, implies the existence of an infinite hierarchy of worlds and of people. Of course however, each individual "person" is creepily robbed of their identity. If there are infinite copies of myself, then who am I?

So, the next question after "is this real?" and "am I real?" is "can we jump between worlds?" Soon before the end, the protagonist is escaping the police in a parking lot, ascending through levels 3, 2, 1, to freedom. Later still, the concept is explored less symbolically.

this film is a slower exploration of the themes raised in The Matrix. The simultaneously released, but much less well-known, film The 13th Floor is actually much more obviously inspired by this film. It's very thinky, not terribly exciting except in a dry, intellectual way, but there is that at least. Plato's cave, the nature of reality, and the simulation of the computer versus the simulation of a film are all brought up. A good conversation-starter, though of course I only enjoy mostly pointing out the clues but not connecting them together.