When it comes to movies, I, probably like most moviegoers, categorize them subconsciously Do I like this? If no, I never think about it again(Except for “The Mist”, I hate that movie). If I do like a movie, it then goes to be sorted into one of three categories:
Repeat-viewability/Will watch often(very few make this cut), Will watch once in a long while, and Never watch again. “Inception” falls into the first category, more-so for me than any other Christopher Nolan film. Spoiler alert: kind of. After seeing “Inception” for a second time, I wanted to write about some of its themes. This isn’t a review, that can be found here – Inception review. For some of the themes and ideas that made the movie so good, read on !
During my first viewing, and shortly thereafter, I loved the movie, but felt that it lacked some substance, something redeeming to make it a movie that I loved. I was amazed by the brilliance of the story, and the great action scenes, but I didn’t feel much depth. After a second viewing, I realize that my concerns had no foundation. The first viewing is about figuring out the plot and enjoying the ride. A second viewing opens up to the characters, their struggles and triumphs, their motivations and their redemptions.
What I didn’t catch the first time around:
- Each level of dreams during the inception is a dream of one of the team members. In their respective dreams, you see their desires come to life, to be the guy everyone counts on, to save the day, to be the action hero, to be the problem solver. It’s a sweet nod to the desire of every man, to matter, to be part of a team, to work together for a common greater good.
- DiCaprio’s Dom Cobb is a man broken and guilt-ridden for the bad choices that he made in his life(i.e. – not seeing his kids before he had to leave the country, performing inception on his wife, her suicide that he feels responsible for) He keeps them all locked up in his mind, and in his dreams he visits his memories, hoping that he can change them. But he can’t. When a client offers him a way home, he accepts, knowing that though he can’t undo all of his mistakes, he may be able to at least be with his kids.
- Cobb is also a man ready to wake up. He and his wife once dreamed together, and went deeper and deeper into their dreams until they had spent decades(in dream time) together and built an amazing world. But when Cobb couldn’t take a fake world anymore, he created an idea, “your world is not real”, which soon destroyed his wife. And after the woke up, she didn’t know what to believe anymore. The madness destroyed her.
Each of his team has their own totem, Cobb’s is a top with a special weight to it, that he spins, if it acts normal he knows that he is in the real world and not in the dream of another person. Early on in the movie, we see him with his gun in hand, waiting to see how the top acts. He is ready to “kill” himself in order to wake up from the dream of another if it’s what is happening. He hopes that it is all a dream and that one day he will wake up to his living wife. But time and time again, he sees that he is awake, and his life is a nightmare.
He is also infected with the idea that he gave his wife, that his world is not real. And throughout the movie, he battles the thought. But by the end, he is a changed man. As he enters his home and sees his kids, he spins the top and instead getting ready to pull the trigger, he walks away and hugs his kids. His doubts and his guilt are no more.
- “Inception” is a stirring action movie unlike any other in that the enemies are within, and the action isn’t against a person, but it still has consequences. It’d take forever to explain why and give some great examples, but trust me, the more you think about it, the deeper it gets. Fisher (the target) thinks he is in someone else’s dream and that his dead father is a projection from another source, and expects nothing but disappointment and anger from him. Actually though, Fisher is in his own dream, Cobb’s plan worked so well that while he expects anger when approaching his father, deep in his heart he longs for reconciliation with his father, which is evidenced by the projection of his father reaching out to him and making things well again. It’s a beautiful moment.
Check out this video, which shows the characters and some cool scenes from the film!