There’s an excellent conversation about what would happen if the world found out that it was all not real. He’s interested in what it means to people who do believe it exists. In many ways, Ascher isn’t interested in simulation theory. It’s the argument that if you believe in something enough, it has to be true, right? The constant inability to refute simulation theory as valid ends up being a sticking point for why it must exist, but it’s the same argument that could prove anything. A subject would say “It’s not so much a leap” or “It’s not surprising at all”, but the path they got to saying that, doesn’t support the case unless you try to get into their headspace. That refusal to have a two-sided conversation about simulation theory and instead presenting the many examples that it may exist, such as the Mandela Effect and deja vu, only causes the audience to negotiate with the movie’s intent more than the subject matter. That being said, there’s a lot to mine from how everything is presented. The detail and refusal to negotiate with the subject matter beyond presenting it is exactly what made watching Ascher’s previous film, The El Duce Tapes, extremely painful to get through. It’s recounted in vivid detail to the point that I almost bailed out of the film because it was too disturbing to experience. Cooke’s obsession with the 1999 film ended up leading him to kill both his parents. Essentially, this is the belief that reality is a computer program and that there are people who commit crimes with an awareness of this fact. In probably its most difficult to watch scene, Ascher spends an exorbitant amount of time focused on Joshua Cooke and The Matrix Defense. How can someone live through a harrowing car crash caught in the middle of a standoff between the police and the cartel in Mexico? Well, some would explain it as luck, others would explain it as fate, and the people interviewed in A Glitch in the Matrix would call it proof. They are people who string together moments in their lives to create a justification that none of it is real. These are also the film’s worst moments, but par for the course with an Ascher film. It drags in multiple people who have become obsessed with this concept, so much so that their everyday lives are almost governed by the knowledge that nothing is real. Or it’ll take a detour into some of the absolutely insane things that have happened to people, that to them reads as the simulation theory having to exist. In its best moments, it brings academics who can try to argue the merits of simulation theory in an impartial, objective way. This is ultimately where A Glitch in the Matrix becomes divisive.

Ascher merely gives a platform to those who would usually be ignored. A Glitch in the Matrix doesn’t dispute simulation theory instead, it offers a chance for the audience to hear all the evidence supporting it and have their own conversation. The point is that simulation theory isn’t really refutable if you believe in it strongly enough, much in the same way as religion and other belief systems.

Are we just brains in vats? Probably not, but that’s not really the point. The first is explored in a comprehensive and robust manner, pulling out all the stops to show every facet of the argument that we do not live in the definitive reality we believe we do. Often frustrating and uncomfortable, A Glitch in the Matrix demands reading between the lines to find the source of obsession in a theory so easy to either believe or ignore.Īscher is working on two different levels here: there’s the subject of simulation theory and those who believe in it. Much like his previous documentaries, Ascher foregoes showing both sides of the argument regarding simulation theory, instead providing a platform for those who firmly believe we are living in a simulation. Have you ever wondered if we’re all living in a simulation? That maybe our reality is just being programmed by another reality? In Rodney Ascher’s A Glitch in the Matrix, the director provides another insight into an obsession: one that can have dire consequences on how people live their lives.

A glitch in the matrix