***SPOILER ALERT***
Seriously, if you have not seen the movie, don't read this.
If you have seen the movie, I'm dying to hear your thoughts!
Ok. 1st off:
I believe that the top stops spinning.
Why? Because I believe in happy endings. I believe in redemption.
And this is why the movie was so brilliant: the audience had to perform inception on the movie themselves. The people you talk to who have seen the movie will have a different view of what happened in the movie based on their own idea that they bring to the film. The way Christopher Nolan ended it left the door open for personal interpretation--a way for the audience to plant their own idea into the movie (inception).
Now, part of Nolan's brilliance is that he left so many different options open: the top sounds as if it will stop spinning, the kids should probably be older, it was his wife's totem, he could have drowned in the van in the 1st level of dreaming (and be stuck in limbo), wasn't Michael Caine's character supposed to be in Europe, etc. ad infinitum (quite a fun discussion)
So, in case you want to argue that the top spins forever, I have a second redemptive interpretation. There are two parts or options. #1 Before, he couldn't dream of his kids--even if he is still dreaming, he has found a level of freedom.
Part #2 - If he is still dreaming, the most important question of the whole film is, when did that dream begin? Is the whole movie a dream, suggesting that reality doesn't exist? Did he get stuck in limbo? Was his wife right, and perhaps waiting for him in a form of reality? One theory that someone suggested is that the kick worked--it brought him out of the inceptions dreams; but perhaps now he is finally able to dream on his own, without requiring the aid of a sedative. Again, perhaps even in his dreams he has found freedom.
These are my theories... please tell me what yours are!
Now, a few other comments...
I loved, loved, loved this movie. In genre, it was an action/heist movie. But unlike most of it's broad genre (the Bourne trilogy, Ocean's trilogy, etc.), the emotional stakes were so much higher. But in the process, I loved that Nolan kept to the point. Profanity was minimal. The violence was not gory. The romance was not overly sensual. Not to mention that the story, characters, cinematography, and special effects were off the charts!
Ok - favorite quote from the movie:
Ariadne: They're all staring at us.
Arthur: Quick, give me a kiss. (they kiss)
Ariadne: They're still looking at us.
Arthur: Yeah, it was worth a shot.
Other quotes of significance:
"What's the most resilient parasite? An Idea. A single idea from the human mind can build cities. An idea can transform the world and rewrite all the rules."
Insert Miss Marcy Willis: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he... Ideas create. Our minds are the gateway."
My mom asked me, "So what would you say was the point of the movie?"
I answered, "Be careful what you believe, because what you believe defines you, your reality, and the others around you."
I think I've run out of things to say... I really want to hear what other viewers thought of the movie, so leave a comment =)
In closing, I just want to say that I think Christopher Nolan more than deserves "Best Director" and probably "Best Screenplay" for this film. While watching the film I had this re-occuring thought, "This movie would have been so much fun to make!" He did an absolutely incredible job.
One last thing about Nolan: he is a fellow English major =)
I also loved this movie!
ReplyDeleteThe odd thing is that all the times he spins the top I don't recall it ever falling on it's own. At one time he struggled to get it spinning but he dropped it, it didn't stop.
I don't want it to be that he's stuck in limbo! Maybe because he confronted the memory of his wife he's now able to move more freely in his own dream. Maybe in the last scene he was just dreaming about seeing his kids before he actually saw them? I don't know I just want the top to fall!!
I'm a fellow writer, and avid book reader (not to mention I would love to major in english lit when I start up school) so my imagination is going 24/7...
ReplyDeleteSO I ABSOLUTELY fell in love with this movie... It had A LOT of things that made you think... And I could try and pull it apart like crazy...
BUT I loved this because even at the end, it could have toppled (and I want to believe it did)
When it comes down to it, he got a lot of closure (letting his wife go) and he was able to fix his problems (he could re-enter the country, and he got to be with his kids) So I want to believe, even if he was dreaming and in Limbo, he was in a good dream...
But then there are moments when you think 'his kids sound older on the phone but when he sees them, they are the exact same age as when he left them..
I also think all the people who went into the dreams with him, weren't there to do the job, they were there to help fix him...
maybe im just rambling, but I love how it ended, and im thinking it had good closure for him, even if he is in LIMBO
@ Jaelle - if you watch it a second time, the top falls at least twice near the beginning of the movie. He routinely spins it when waking up from a dream.
ReplyDelete@Stephanie - I've heard a LOT of people say "his kids should be older, but they are the exact same age when he gets home." If you look through the credits on imdb, both of the children had a younger and an older set of actors. I believe they should be even older than the older set... but I think Nolan did this to keep the uncertainty. They are older, but not old enough to believe for sure that the top falls down.
I love your girls' thoughts =)
Hey Samara!
ReplyDeleteI just read your blog and you had some really great insight to this movie. I totally agree with you on that we create our own inception.
I also had some other ideas...
I think it is interesting that Cobb uses Mal’s totem to confirm that he’s in reality. Remember how he said to Ariadne that no one else should know the precise balance of the totem because then, no one can have a projection towards it. However, someone else knows his! It is his wife and her subconscious and her subconscious's subconscious and so on. If one accepts that Cobb is being chased by somebody’s subconscious in Mombasa, that means he’s trapped in a subconscious that isn’t his – or at least isn’t entirely his or even in a largely projected limbo. Given how they shared so much time and history together building their own world, perhaps Mal is right, and he is still trapped within their shared dream. She could always project the image.
However, though i have this thought, i still want to think of it as a happy ending. I want him to be in reality. I want him to be home, loving his children to eternity.
To hear a completely different view that I don't entirely agree with, check out this write up. Extremely creative perspective:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chud.com/articles/articles/24477/1/NEVER-WAKE-UP-THE-MEANING-AND-SECRET-OF-INCEPTION/Page1.html
thanks for all your comments :)
One line I kept hearing throughout the movie is, "take a leap of faith with me." To me, the ending completely embodies this quote. I am required as an audience member to take a leap of faith. Would the top had fallen? I believe it would have, but I can't prove that with facts from the movie, and there is evidence pointing both ways. But I have faith that Cobb did come back into reality.
ReplyDeleteThis movie was so immensely impressive to me! I literally cried out with joy at the end of it. It was so visceral, and such a mind game too. And I love that Nolan separated the sub-conscious and the conscious mind. In the scene when Cobb is teaching Ellen Page's character how to manipulate a dream, Cobb is fully aware of he is doing, but his sub-conscious mind is beginning to reject her changes, and when Mol comes out in full force he is powerless to stop her. It gives new meaning to the verse "be transformed by the renewing of your minds" and sheds new revelation on the sub-conscious strongholds that affect our everyday actions. Incredible movie.
And did anyone else love that Cillian Murphy reconciles with his dad, even if it was just in his own mind?
@ Julia - I've been thinking about that. Would the totem work at all? As an audience, we don't know how that all works. I think that every single detail that Nolan put in that movie is incredible. Nearly everything makes it seem like it was a dream!
ReplyDelete@ James - i LOVE the "leap of faith" connection. It really does come back to faith. And I wanted to cry so hard when I saw the pin-wheel! oh wow! Cheers Nolan. He deserves Best Director by far!