A postmodernist movie to be 'digested', not to be merely seen!

Rating: 10/10 (4 January 2013)

First things First: It appears so that when we are talking about criticisms or critic, we are not talking about evaluation, rather, we are doing "critique" and NOT criticizing the text (text here means any genre in which a story is narrated - here, it is narrated via the medium of Cinematography - a film). So it appears that some of the reviews written here have the sense of criticizing as if evaluating or judging it based on what their personal taste in this particular movie was. Furthermore, criticizing a movie needs an unbiased eye - since some reviews written here have strongly recommended the movie or found it so astonishing based on starring actors/actresses, director, music composer, etc! But from what we know of a really "objective" kind of criticism, it must not look up for exterior factors (exterior factors are any those factors, other than what is seen in the movie!) So I think any criticism should ONLY be limited to the work itself being criticized! Now I would like to invite you to the following review. 1. Characters/persons/Postmodernism: Here it is needed to heed on what we mean by character! Do NOT mistakenly take it as person! Person refers to real human beings but character is not attributed to actors of the movie, they also refer to objects or things! I would like to say that the 'dream' being introduced as the motif in this movie is a strong character; we could also say that the dream itself is so characteristic in the life (or plot) of the people that we see in the story being said in the movie! OR even so characteristic about us - real human beings - out of the movie & in real world! isn't it?! Dreams as even Freud once said and its interpretations are indeed of high value! But let us focus on the movie.. I seems like the movie is a complete "postmodernist" movie! From what we know about postmodernist novels or even movies, the text does not follow a logical time line or sequencing of the events and that is clearly seen in the 3 layered dream displayed in the movie! More, postmodernist movies do not emphasize the reality of objects or even the world around us.. To be more exact, postmodernist genre does not force us to believe what is 'real' around us; instead, it tries to blur the distinct territory of reality with that of a dream or any other imaginary or parallel worlds. "Postmodernism" tries to enforce a kind of chaos, a mixture of cinematographic elements in this sense to create a radical understanding of an old concept and to embody it into a new shape! Here in this movie, 'dream' is presented into OUR world, so naked, so bizarre and so REALISTIC that induces a certain kind of doubt about the very world we are now existing on! We would then ask ourselves: "what if THIS world is NOT real and we SHOULD wake up from this tiring dream?!?!" Certainly you remember the scene at the hotel when Cobb's wife (=Mal) attempts suicide! There you go! She thought that now, this world is not what she wanted! She still NEEDS a dream! but Why?! According to what Freud says about dream-work in the field of psychology, and his classification about 'id', 'ego' and 'superego', due to some restrictions in REAL world, or better say due to sociocultural barriers, the repressed emotions and feelings (or real desires of mankind or what our 'id' really wants us to do or to have) are trapped in our 'unconsciousness'.. so what is its significance? Those yearnings are resurfaced in a dream, where no barrier or no restriction exists! It's a total freedom in our 'unconsciousness' where you are free to do anything or to have anything you want! (It makes sense, huh?) So, when you dream, you think like you can have ANYTHING or ANYBODY beyond limits! Mal also believed that in her dreams. Another feature of postmodernist works is that they intend to create a chaos deliberately! They hold the agenda that we are living in the world of chaos where nothing and absolutely nothing follows a schedule or a definite plan... Everything is internalized: our true feelings too. They focus on 'intertextuality' and complexity of different texts or discourses! In Ariadne's dream where she creates vertical-shape buildings which later turns on itself creating an all-in-all (360 degree) world where no sky exists and instead, the ceiling of their dream is another layer of structures and buildings!! It even amazes Cobb! Somewhere else, I would emphasize that postmodernist movies tend to portray the lack of coherence, consistency or unity that what we definitely expect our universe to possess! 2. Totem/dream & life/gaps: I have to ask you this: "what does a totem mean in this movie?" Of course I think it's an icon, a motif being portrayed numerously during the movie and you know that a repetition is a very important element not only in movies but also in novels or any other sort of genre.. We all know why they used their own PRIVATE totem... they just wanted to realize or better say get sure that they are NOT within a dream!!! (what an irony! isn't it?! we are living in a world and still we need to do something to make sure we are not dead! we are still living, not imagining or pretending to live!!!) But another question is why Cobb lets go of his totem on the table at the end, and runs after his children?! It would be simple! If you remember, he refuses to look at his children when he is AWARE that he is in a dream...but finally, when he makes sure no threat comes from Mal anymore and when he returns home, he does NOT bother to wait for the totem...! instead, he focuses on his REAL totems in his life! = His CHILDREN!!! Thanks. Bahram Kabiri