Inception is what you make it

Rating: 10/10 (21 July 2010)

Inception. I've seen it two times, and I plan to see it at least one more time before it's out of theaters. Let me tell you, I'm still shocked. It's one of the hardest movies to understand, mainly because it's so open to interpretation. I love it. I love, love, love it. The great thing about this movie is that it is what you want it to be. It's like a fully customizable film. You see yourself in the characters, you feel what they're feeling, and you get just as lost in the dreams as they do. It's slowly but surely working it's way up my favorite movie list.
Now there's a lot of different theories swirling around out there about how the story is meant to be taken. I've read a lot of them, and this is what I, personally, have decided about the film.
I think what you see is what you get. When Cobb claims it's reality, it is. The movie takes place on two parallel planes, our reality and our dreams, and they navigate deep into one and return to the other. It is what it is. As for the ending... I personally think he's awake, back in reality, and finally reunited with his kids. I know it's very unclear and a lot of people don't see it that way, but it goes back to this movie being what you want it to be. I want it to be a happy ending with him living in this world and being with his kids.
In contradiction to what I just said, I also think that it doesn't entirely matter if his totem falls or not. The point is that he is a changed man. He's let go of his guilt and he's ready to accept his fate as long as he's with his children. In a way, his guilt was his totem and he was battling it, trying to grasp the reality of his feelings throughout the movie. He came back to what was important after he let go of Mal's death.
I also read somewhere that this was nothing more than an allegory for filmmaking. It makes perfect sense. Cobb is the director, in charge of creating the dream, or the allegorical movie. Arthur would be the producer type, gathering all the information so the dream/movie goes off without a hitch. Ariadne is the screenwriter, creating the world that the Mark, Robert Fischer (representative of the movie's audience) sees. Eames represents the actor, changing faces and playing characters. Saito would represent the guy from the production company that wants in on the making of the film to make sure it's getting done, and Yusuf is the technical guy who's pretty much responsible for making things run smoothly on the outside. When you look at it that way, it makes perfect sense. Even Mal has her place. She represents what happens when a director brings their "personal touch" into a movie. It can make things more interesting, but can also kill the Mark/audience. Alas, Fischer is saved, and at the conclusion of the dream, he is a changed man. The dream/movie implanted an idea in him, and in the slightest way, altered him. And then the ending also makes sense. The director, Cobb, goes home changed too, and it doesn't entirely matter that the movie was fake, it changed everyone involved, including the audience. Nolan, the movies physical director, wouldn't do this picture until he had some experience with big movie franchises. Was that research? Who knows. I love this standpoint though, and while it may have been done intentionally, the movie seems a bit hefty to be solely about making a movie. I think the symbolism in it is beautiful, and I think that what I just typed out is very accurate, but the movie is so much more than that.
The movie itself IS an inception. This is my favorite part - You get lost in the dreams just as the characters do. You lose track of where you are, which dream level you're on, who's dream you're in... it all gets so scattered, and it's great. It's kind of like an existential-meta-fiction blend. The movie plants doubt in your mind, it plants ideas in your mind, and most of all it plants thoughts in your mind. I guarantee after you see it, and you're truly immersed in it, you won't stop thinking about it.
10/10. Way to go, Chris Nolan.