When THE MATRIX was released in 1999 it was hailed as groundbreaking, and there is no doubt that visually it was, garnering an almost religious following, but anyone with a reasonable knowledge of science fiction recognised it being derivative, owing its concepts to anime (GHOST IN THE SHELL), literature (Neuromancer) and comics (The Invisibles), as well as Eastern religions and Western philosophy (Jean Baudrillard's Simulacra and Simulation in particular). Neuromancer, not only give the name The Matrix, but also some of the ideas for the virtual reality world, although not exclusively.

Philip K Dick also wrote of similar alternate realities in his 1959 book Time out of Joint, and Stanislaw (Solaris) Lem's Skrzynie profesora Corcorana also addressed a similar concept. However it is American writer Daniel F Galouye's 1964 novel Simulacron-3 (aka Counterfeit World), that spoke of a computer-generated virtual reality, where the people in the virtual world don't know the are not really flesh and blood.

Rainer Werner Fassbinder, auteur and bad-boy of the New German Cinema, adapted the Simulacron-3 story into a two-part TV film that runs to over three hours, and aired in Germany in 1973. This adaptation tells the story of Dr Stiller, who takes over the Simulacron project when the head of the project dies mysteriously.

When other people around him start disappearing without trace, Stiller suspects everything isn't quite as he thinks it is, and starts probing deeper into his employer's activities, which leads to him not only questioning his existence, but also fighting for his life.

Apart from a couple of TV transmissions in Germany in the '70s, this groundbreaking film has never been shown anywhere else, and has now been digitally restored by the Fassbinder Foundation for a new generation to explore. One thing that immediately strikes is how much a product of its era it is.

Even with the restoration, the 16mm photography still looks grainy and flat, like other shows of the same era, such as The Avengers and The Prisoner. It also suffers from the same fashion crimes that affected other shows of the era.

Where it does excel is in creating the virtual reality world out of the existing one, helped by some very clever uses of mirrors, both symbolically and as a visual device.

This two-disc DVD also contains an informative documentary on the making-of and restoration of the film, with interviews with some of the principle crew.

As a curio of innovative, thought-provoking science fiction it is a must see, but also check out THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR, a 1999 movie based on the same original story, only in English and half as long.

We have three copies of the DVD to give away. Enter the competition here.

WORLD ON A WIRE is released on May 17 from Second Sight and is available from Play an all good retailers.