a powerful film with a powerful concept.

Rating: 9/10 (20 June 2016)

Every once in a while a film finds its way across our screens that challenges us on several levels. Such films challenge us to think critically and pay attention. Others address issues that shake the core of human emotion. Additional films attack our senses with amazing visuals, a powerful score, or both. Christopher Nolan's Inception is a film that takes all of these elements in and turns them into a powerhouse of human emotion. The film explores the theme of the power of guilt and its subsequent ability to overtake everything that makes you yourself, while also making you question what the word reality truly means. The film stars the always powerful Leonardo DiCaprio as the films main protagonist Dom Cobb. Cobb is a man on the run from his past as well as from the country he calls home, struggling to cope with the loss of his wife and separation from his children. Cobb, along with Joseph Gordon-Levitt's character, Arthur, specialize in the extraction of memories from their victims' subconscious minds. Cobb and Arthur are so skilled at this job that they are invited by their most recent mark. The twist, it is revealed, is that he does not want a memory removed, rather he wants an idea inserted into another's mind; A job that is rewarded with nothing short of Cobb's return to his children. What ensues is Cobb's personal mission to accomplish the seemingly impossible and create perform inception on his intended mark. Inception is a film that utilizes both stunning visuals as well as Hans Zimmer's ever powerful score to navigate not only the gravity of the situations Cobb and company find themselves in, but also to explore the depth of emotion that the film resides in. Similar another seminal piece of Nolan film, Interstellar, Inception is a visual and musical delight that attacks the senses and connects the viewer(s) to the experience of the film. These films are also similar in the way that Nolan utilizes cinematography to address the theme of the film. Camera angles are a central focus in Inception, and Nolan uses them masterfully to shift focus from characters to more abstract items that help gain an attachment from his viewers on the concept of totems and their appearance. Inception is viewed by many as a masterpiece from Christopher Nolan. If begs the question of when reality stops being reality and when a dream stops being a dream. Inception also addresses the subconscious need for closure and acceptance of reality. This film stands to me as an excellent example of the power of film to excavate the deepest core feelings of the human mind and its ability to cope with its problems.