What about the helicopter rescue convinced Morpheus that Neo was "the one"?

Question

See the scene I'm talking about here

Essentially what happens is as Trinity loses control of the helicopter, Neo grabs hold of the rope and is pulled by it but stops flying off the edge of the building with his feet. That isn't beyond the abilities of what we've seen Neo do before.

We then expect Neo to pull a super-superhuman feat like swing the helicopter using only the rope, but in fact Trinity shoots the rope while holding onto it. In the end, the only thing Neo is actually holding onto is Trinity while the helicopter follows the Law of Conservation of Momentum and goes explodium into the building.

Then Tank and Morpheus both say "I knew it". When Morpheus asks "Do you believe it now Trinity?" she either has a face that says "Yes, I believe (because of the dodging Neo pulled earlier)" or "I don't want to say anything in front of my Boss who clearly did not see me shoot the rope".

Tank is watching the whole time so it seems rather odd for Tank to then say "I knew" during the mundane helicopter rescue instead of all the other stuff Neo did like the bullet dodge and the Star Wars elevator shaft scene.

What about the scene made Morpheus "believe"?

Answer 1

In the original 1996 draft script it's rather more clear. The sheer improbability of his rescue of Trinity was sufficient to remove any lingering doubts in Morpheus' mind (and to convince Tank, watching on the monitors).

Neo flies like a skipping stone, hurtling straight AT us, when his feet hit the rain gutter --
A fulcrum that levers him up just as --
Trinity FIRES, severing the cord from the HELICOPTER, falling free of it as it SMASHES, blades first into a glass skyscraper.
...
INT. MAIN DECK:
Tank stares at the screen, his mouth agape.

TANK: He's the One. He's got to be...

EXT. ROOFTOP (MATRIX) - DAY Neo pulls Trinity up into his arms. Both shaking, they hold each other again.

MORPHEUS: I knew it! I goddamn knew it!

TRINITY: Morpheus!

She runs at him, throwing her arms around him.

MORPHEUS: Do you believe me now? He's the One! Who else could have done this?

In the lower budget 1997 version of the script, the helicopter explosion is missing entirely. It's Neo's rescue of Morpheus that convinces Tank that Neo is The One. In this version, Morpheus apparently doesn't have any doubts whatsoever.

Until the LINE ends, SNAPPING taut, cracking their fragile embrace. Morpheus tumbles, legs flipping over, falling down --
The ground deliriously distant --
As Neo snatches hold of his mentor's still handcuffed wrist.

NEO: Gotcha!

INT. MAIN DECK
Tank stares at the screen, his mouth agape.

TANK: He is the One. He's gotta be... but why? He's gotta be!

EXT. GOVERNMENT BUILDING Trinity is already pulling the copter up and away.

...

EXT. ROOFTOP - DAY
The helicopter touches down on the skyscraper in a swirl of dust and gravel. Neo has an arm around Morpheus, holding him up.

TRINITY: Morpheus!

She runs at him, slamming her arms around him.

MORPHEUS: Do you believe it now, Trinity?

By the time we reach the shooting script (as seen in The Art of the Matrix), all the previous backstory about Morpheus finding multiple potentials, telling them they're The One and then watching them die has been completely removed. In this version, Morpheus always believed that Neo was the messiah, unquestioningly.

the helicopter explodes—
She bounces against a shatterproof window that spider-cracks out while flames erupt behind her.

165 INT. MAIN DECK Tank stares at the screen, his mouth agape.

TANK: I knew it! He's the One.

EXT. ROOFTOP - DAY
Neo pulls Trinity up into his arms. Both shaking, they hold each other again.

MORPHEUS: Do you believe it now, Trinity?

Trinity looks at Neo.

Answer 2

Morpheus always believed Neo was The One. At the beginning of the movie he says

"I have spent my whole life searching for you." and "If they knew what I know, you would already be dead."

He also says

"There is a difference between knowing the path...and walking it."

I think he's referring to the fact that he knows Neo is The One but Neo must also believe it before he can actually take on the role and responsibilities.

The scene you refer to shows everyone the extent of Neo's courage. He may not have known Trinity was going to shoot the rope and was fully prepared to try to pull the ENTIRE copter up in order to save her or die trying. Thus Neo now shows the One's courage and only lacks the pure belief, which he shows in the final scene with Smith when he refuses to run.

Answer 3

Tank - Tank hoped Neo was the one but we never really see him believe it. He seems ready to believe but just doesn't. Then Neo goes in, and does what no human has ever done. He fights the agents and wins. He gets everyone out alive. The moment he pulls Trinity from the helicopter, it becomes apparent that he achieved his objectives. He Won (or they won). He fought agents and won. This "victory" gives Tank the "He must be the one moment".

Trinity - She is going to fall in love with the One. That's her part. So she gets emotionally yanked around, half falling in love, half not wanting to, because it means loving a doomed man. So she believes he might be the One, as she is starting to fall for him, but is also hoping he isn't because that would mean she could love a normal man, instead of some savior figure. Then, she has to face the fact that she didn't let him come alone, and that, in the heat of the moment she trusted him as instinct. She is smacked in the face with the truth that she trusted him (a essential part of love), that he risked his life for hers, and that the trust was rewarded. Her "revelation" was less about the one, and more about a man she was starting to love. Even though that love may mean that he was the One.

Morpheus Morpheus believed he was the One. But there is a long gap between believing and sitting there talking with your "Jesus". Not only that, but his moment was way more "I F'ing told you! See! All you haters doubted me, but he IS the one, so suck on that!" Of course Morpheus has too much class to say it like that, but.... That's the moment anyways.

Neo Neo still doesn't believe. He is starting to, but he is still hesitant. His "suspension of disbelief" doesn't happen until after he "dies". He just see's it as a kind of "Of course it worked. Why wouldn't it. I didn't do anything you didn't show me in the simulator." Neo didn't want to be the One. The whole reason for going back is because he didn't want Morpheus to die for a fake "One". He felt guilt because Morpheus was making the ultimate sacrifice for him, and he wasn't the One.

So what really happens is that Neo, does something that no other human can do by rescuing Morpheus from agents. The three with experience realize this now are put deeper in the "he is the One" camp. The noob stands there going "But all I did was press Q" and while he gets a confidence boost, is not swayed.

Note

As stated in the comments, I drew on the fact that I recognized a strong relation between "The one" and Jesus, and that is why I think that Trinity is fighting her urge to fall in love with Neo. It's worth pointing out that no matter how strong the analogy is/was "in universe" there was no Jesus, and I can not come up with any reason that "in universe" Trinity would think Neo "doomed". I still think she does, and I still think it falls under all savior figures are doomed, but there is no "in universe" explanation for that, as far as I know. (Except that maybe she knew he had to "return to the source" and that it would likely mean death, but they didn't get into that in the first movie.)

Answer 4

Nothing about that scene convinced Morpheus that Neo was the One, because Morpheus already believed Neo was the One.

Morpheus indicates that he believed Neo was the One, and that's why Morpheus unplugged Neo at an unusually old age:

I feel I owe you an apology. We have a rule. We never free a mind once it's reached a certain age. It's dangerous, the mind has trouble letting go. I've seen it before and I'm sorry. I did what I did because, I had to. When the Matrix was first built, there was a man born inside who had the ability to change whatever he wanted, to remake the Matrix as he saw fit. It was he who freed the first of us, taught us the truth. As long as the Matrix exists the human race will never be free. After he died the Oracle prophesied his return and that his coming would hail the destruction of the Matrix and the war, bring freedom to our people. That is why there are those of us who have spent our entire lives searching the Matrix looking for him. I did what I did because I believe that search is over.

_{Morpheus, The Matrix (see transcript)}

The Oracle also says Morpheus believes Neo is the One, and that's why Morpheus sacrificed himself for Neo:

Neo: Morpheus. He, he almost had me convinced.

Oracle: I know. Poor Morpheus. Without him we're lost.

Neo: What do you mean, without him?

Oracle: Are you sure you want to hear this? Morpheus believes in you, Neo. And no one, not you, not even me can convince him otherwise. He believes it so blindly that he's going to sacrifice his life to save yours.

_{The Matrix (see transcript)}

The whole reason the scene in question occurred is because Neo had to rescue Morpheus after Morpheus sacrificed himself for Neo. The scene helped convince Tank, Trinity, and Neo himself that Neo was the One -- but Morpheus already believed.

Answer 5

I always thought it was when neo gathers up the rope in his hands right when he whispers "trinity" as the helicopter is going down. Everything goes in slow motion. Ive always thought that the slow mo wasnt just for effect, it was Neo actually slowing down time in the matrix to help Trinity. He had fulfilled part of being able to change things in the matrix, as the One is able to do. That was the first time he was able to do that in the Matrix, and not just in the construct. Morpheous always believed in him, but this was the first solid proof. Just my opinion.

Answer 6

Not sure why exactly Ryan was downvoted. Neo performed a number of difficult and skillful actions during a seemingly impossible rescue scenario. All of these were capped off by delaying the helicopter explosion long enough for Trinity to survive. (The helicopter slowly crushes into a glass skinned structure instead of crashing through. The glass warps across the entire surface instead of shattering at the points of impact. Eventually it can't be stopped and "normal" physics take over, ending with a standard hollywood explosion.)

The nearest he comes to that kind of control over the Matrix is stopping bullets and learning to fly. Kind of seems like his abilities developed out of order.

I think it's safe to assume that Neo wasn't fully "The One" until after his death at the hands (barrel) of Smith - and even then this developed further over the course of the trilogy.