Are we Dreaming in the Basement?

Rating: 10/10 (3 September 2010)

Inception was a brilliantly shot film with clever casting and an intriguing story.
As we left the theater, I heard snatches of conversation around me and the overarching question that people were asking was, "was it real or not?" I turned to my husband and said, "it doesn't matter." Why?
Because it doesn't. Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) was seeking redemption and it was through his sacrifice that he was able to find peace in the end. He wanted to go home. As the film is bookended with the interaction where Cobb tells Saito that he has come, not to ensure that Saito (Ken Watanabe) gives Cobb his heart's desire, but to bring Saito home, the sacrifice that Cobb has made rings clear and your hear his subtext:"All I want is to go home, but I can't deny you the same because I'm afraid to lose my life."
In a time where the world has been rocked by hurricanes, earthquakes, war and economic instability, the desire to participate and engage in community has become more important to people. We have started figured out that we can't exist in a vacuum, that our actions affect others, that we can't depend on systems and institutions to provide in the midst of loss in heartbreak. We have to reach out and choose to do life with one another.
That's what the traveler's in Cobb's group did. What started out as a business deal became a group that was entwined in each other's lives in a meaningful way. It was such a powerful bond, that and Cobb wouldn't allow the "tourist" to be separated from his "home." That was community. Just like the people in the basement who came to live life together every single day.
This film joins the collection of stories that remind us what is important – life with others.