Matrix Gets Egyptian Ban For Explicit Religion

pajor writes "BBC News is reporting that that The Matrix Reloaded has been banned in Egypt. The country's censorship board cited violence which might 'harm social peace', but also said the 'religious themes' of the film's storyline, about the search for the creator and control of the human race, may cause 'crises'. A statement said: 'Despite the high technology and fabulous effects of the movie, it explicitly handles the issue of existence and creation, which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in.'"

Perhaps the censor can explain...

[Goonie]

the scene with the Architect, then. Obviously he understands well enough to ban the thing... :)

wow...

[lingqi]

I think now how well Bruce Almighty will fare in Egypt just became one of the most curious questions I have about the movie industry.

Or, heck, Dogma... (though they might like that one b/c they think it's making fun of the catholics)

My religion

[Gorny]

"..which are related to the three divine religions, which we all respect and believe in.." There is only one religion... and it's prophet is called Morpheus, it's Messiah Neo.

Re:Congratulations Egypt

[demonbug]

Keanu Reeves is a percieved threat to your rule?

whoah.

heh

[ffsnjb]

Maybe the kid in the first movie should have said "there is no god." Instead of bending a spoon with your mind, it'd probably be a tad easier to convince the religious *insert_deragtory word_here* that there is no god.

Nah, bending the spoon is easier.

Re:Can someone please explain to me..?

[bananahammock]

Thanks mate. Now I donâ(TM)t understand the architect and you.

Re:Can someone please explain to me..?

[Anonymous Coward]

I can't even tell where the fsck I am now

Re:So?

[harlows_monkeys]

Thats the offset between christian and moslem religions. So You have to wait something like 300 hundred years to get moslem religion to some civilized state

Shouldn't that be at least 300 years, since you can't put a definite number on it until Christianity becomes civilized?

It;s really sad...

[botzi]

...when movies with non or O(x) intelectual message are censored.

The press launched a campaign to stop showing the movie, saying that it reflects Zionist ideas, and promotes Jewish and Zionist beliefs."

Sure, and "Dude, where's my car?" was a strong social movie for the soviets GULAG's....

Re:My religion

[Anonymous Coward]

That's funny. In my religion the messiah is a whiny desert farm boy, and the prophet his now-annoying father.

Re:Can someone please explain to me..?

[Anonymous Coward]

That's the architect! Dammit he's slick, not only does he confuse us in the movie, he confuses us in explaining why we shouldn't be confused.

Nonsense.

[Grendel Drago]

Bullshit. [Spoilers. Piss off.]

The One (Neo) is the machines' last system of control; he's the result of those in the matrix having a choice---Zion or the matrix---and is part of the cycle in which Zion is created and destroyed. Neo is the sixth version of the One.

Perhaps your friend has some different, PhD version of "nothing" he meant.

--grendel drago

Re:Can someone please explain to me..?

[DrMrLordX]

I was horribly disappointed by the first movie. I have no compelling reason to see the second one unless they release a "Abuse Keanu" edit of the film that features nothing but Neo getting his ass kicked(and I doubt that would have much footage anyway?).

You must not be human

[aidfarh]

since the Architect explicitly told Neo, that because he was human, there were some things that the Architect said that Neo wouldn't understand. Therefore, anybody who claims to understand 100% of what the Architect said, cannot possibly be a human.

three divine religions

[gnalre]

Islam, Christianity, Jedi?

Those strange egyptians...

[JadedFAQer]

It's not like there were any cats in the film, I see no reason to get fussy.

Congratulations, Wachowski Brothers

[Featureless]

This is better than winning a fucking Academy Award.

Your work has been recognized by the government of Egypt for being "too damn good."

Re:No...

[kikta]

Tsk ..tsk ..tsk

typical American stereotyping.

Uh... isn't that a stereotype, too?

A Bit More

[blackmonday]

Apparently, nobody realized that All American movies were banned in Egypt right after "Dude, Where's My Car?"

Re:BBFC gave it a 15

[ryanvm]

And then again, shooting someone in the head is acceptable; you just cannot call him "motherfucker" while doing this. Am I the only person who considers it a little bit weird?

Shut up, motherfucker.

Re:Perhaps the censor can explain...

[broberds]

That wasn't really an Architect. It was George Costanza pretending to be an Architect.

Re:Almost

[Surak]

Okay, I'll admit, I was previously unclear on the concept of Zionism. I tried to google for 'Zion' and came up with nothing but a bunch of Christian churches. Maybe I should have googled for 'Zionism'. ;)

Re:in relation to Animatix

[eggstasy]

Bzzzt. Wrong. Machines don't bleed and they don't go around falling in love with ugly women or making babies in totally unrealistic sex scenes.
Thanks for playing, though!

Three religions?

[Shimatta1]

And those three religions would be...let's see...Discordianism, Deism, and....I know, Jedi! ^_^

Shimatta
Hail Eris!
Your Mileage May Vary

What the hell is Zionism?

[boy_afraid]

Okay, I hear Zion [ism | ist] everwhere in The Matrix and everyday news. So, WTF is it? Is it an idea or place? Why the f*ck are the Muslims all against it? Why the f*ck should they care? Why do we, the U.S., not care if everybody else cares?

The Fools!

[weston]

Architect: "Your life is the sum of a remainder of an unbalanced equation inherent to the programming of the matrix. You are the eventuality of an anomaly which, despite my sincerest efforts I have been unable to eliminate from what is otherwise a harmony of mathematical precision.

Clearly, to simplify the Matrix they're using Gausian Elimination techniques, but each entry in the Matrix is only represented with limited floating-point precision! Of course they're going to end up with error terms -- not to mention wild inaccuracies or maybe even a singularity....

Re:more spoilers

[Rinikusu]

Who said any of that is even happening?

For all we know, the entire "human race as a battery" paradigm is something invented by the machines and fed to the those who escape "the matrix" (into another matrix) to help convince them of their plight (and to keep them from wondering if they are truly out of the matrix).

Re:Yeah, within a virtual system

[Anonymous Coward]

Currently, there are two possible results of pop culture:
1. Philospher for a day who has become interested in the basic philosophical questions raised by the Matrix
2. "Wow, that chick's tits were AWESOME , dude!"

Aw, can't we have both?

Re:Can someone please explain to me..?

[senducemhere]

I think the Oracle has a plan for PeopleSoft...

Re:Perhaps the censor can explain...

[coopaq]

Has anybody considered that maybe the Architect is lying?

Yeah. I've already seen that show.
It's Wizard of Fucking OZ. Maybe our
ancestors die due to unoriginal material.

Am I too cynical?