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<\/a><\/p>\nI just finished watching the movie<\/a> Wanted<\/a><\/em>. It is full of violence and vulgarity, and many will love it or hate it for that reason. But beneath the \u201caction flick\u201d surface is an incredibly profound parable, one that parallels a key theme and message of the Matrix<\/em> films. [WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW, although I will try to be vague!]<\/p>\n The movie is about the feeling many people get of boredom and dissatisfaction with their lives. We long for someone to come along and tell us that we are significant, to redefine how we understand ourselves through just a few words revealing our true identity.<\/p>\n What both the Matrix and Wanted show is that, on the one hand, what is needed in order to save us from a meaningless existence is, above all else, desire and discipline<\/em>. In all the great hero movies that have even a hint of realism, the main character doesn\u2019t just go from ordinary to superhero. There is a need for a \u201crepairman\u201d, someone who teaches the individual the discipline needed in order to realize what they \u2013 what we<\/em> \u2013 are capable of.<\/p>\n We all want to be significant, but it is only relatively recently that it has become the expectation that we will find that fulfillment from our jobs<\/em>. Some of us are indeed so fortunate. But in bygone eras, one\u2019s farming or cattle herding was simply a means of survival<\/em>. If someone\u2019s words made a huge impact, as for instance the words of Amos did, it wasn\u2019t because he was a prophet \u201cfor a living\u201d necessarily, but the sense of calling and the willingness to make the time to do something else as well.<\/p>\n<\/a>Wanted, like the Matrix films, also highlights a key danger. Those who mediate the message of our potential to change, to be something more, to find meaning, are also capable of manipulating that message and its power to their own ends. Neo discovered that his being \u201cthe One\u201d was just another layer of control and manipulation. Wesley discovers that what was allegedly fate was in fact manipulation.<\/p>\n