Waking Life doused post-9/11 America in cold, invigorating ideas

Waking Life, a film by Richard Linklater, was released at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2001 and is often perceived as a reflection of post-9/11 America. Roger Ebert, in his review from that October, wrote that the film was "like a cold shower of bracing, clarifying ideas" during a time of violence and unrest following the 9/11 attacks.

The film's celebration of articulate and intelligent characters seeking meaning without having answers was seen as a stark contrast to the widespread psychosis and bloodlust that gripped many Americans in the aftermath of the Twin Towers falling.

Ebert himself was not immune to the psychosis of the time, stating in the same review that "those who don't know the answers are the only ones asking sane questions" in the face of madmen who "think they have the right to kill us because of what they think they know about an afterlife." Ebert's anger was directed at what the media demonized as "radical Islam," which he believed oversimplified a complex set of geopolitical, sociocultural, and religious factors into dehumanizing hatred.

The film's tone, as conveyed through the philosophical ramblings of its characters, aimed to communicate rather than control. Wiley Wiggins, the unnamed dreamer in the film, wanders around Linklater's rotoscoped world listening to these ideas, resulting in an approachable and participatory tone. This contrasts with the violent fervor that gripped the nation at the time, showcasing how sitting and considering has a quiet radicalism, especially in a moment as purely reactive as 9/11.

Waking Life, as part of Linklater's trilogy of wandering, listening, and dreaming, is the culmination of his exploration of these themes. The film's dialogue maintains a spontaneous cadence, reminiscent of Linklater's other works, Slacker and It's Impossible To Learn To Plow By Reading Books. Linklater's cinema is participatory, engaging its audience in a way that transcends escapism and offers mental salvation in the form of the dream state.