Beautiful Inception
So my yaba and I watched the Inception for the second time last night seeking for clarification. But guess what? We left the cinema more confused than ever. Damn Nolan. He got people really confused. He got us thinking. But that is the beauty of the film. It engages the viewers. Inception is, without a doubt, the most interesting Hollywood film I’ve seen in 2010, or even 2009! The actors all showed superb acting. Leo is incredibly talented. He is perfect for the role. He is extremely good looking but I really admire him more for the variety of roles he has played.
So going back to the movie, I believe it is the director’s objective to really make the ending ambiguous and open for interpretation. The director probably just wants the viewers to decide for themselves and make their own conclusions based on the clues and rules he has laid down in the movie.
Some people believe that the whole movie is just a dream or an imagined thought. I don’t buy that. Why? Because it is boring that way. If it were all a dream, then people wouldn’t have to debate whether Dom Cobb woke up or not or whether the top stopped or kept spinning in the last scene because it wouldn’t matter anyway, since everything was just imagined.
I believe that there is a sense of reality and several dream sequences in the film. Now that is exciting! So did Dom Cobb wake up? Was he still in limbo? Did the top stop? Did it keep on spinning? These questions have sparked debates that I believe would continue infinitely unless the director gives us a definite answer and/or provide an unambiguous ‘alternative’ ending in the DVD version.
I would like to believe that he woke up. In my honest to goodness opinion—He woke up and he’s in reality. Why? I saw some clues (some subtle, some not and some inferred) and they are the ff:
1. The totem (top) wobbling- The top is an important piece for Dobb. He is addicted to it and it is his way of distinguishing reality from dream. If the top is spun and it doesn’t stop spinning, that would mean he is still in a dream. If it stops, then he’d be in reality. In dream sequences of the movie, whenever the top is spun by Dom, the top swirls perfectly and continuously (like when he is in limbo with Saito). There is no wobbling. However, in that last scene where the totem was shown, I noticed that the top is wobbling proving he is indeed in reality.
2. The missing wedding ring- Whenever Dom is in one of the ‘dream sequences’—he’d have his wedding ring on his left ring finger. In the reality sequences, Dom doesn’t wear one anymore. In the scene in the airport, when he is presenting his passport to the immigration officer using his left hand—there is no ring.
3. The scene in Limbo with Saito-They actually woke up from Limbo. It is implied. Ken Watanabe’s character is holding a gun, of course we didn’t see him actually shoot himself or Leonardo but it is implied. We hear Dom say – ‘take a leap of faith, so we can be young men again’. Suddenly, both of them remembered. And in my opinion, this is the most important scene because it proves that they actually woke up. They had this very powerful conversation that might just help shed light to the confusing ending:
Saito: You remind me of someone... a man I met in a half-remembered dream. He was possessed of some radical notions.
Cobb: I came here to tell you... something.
[pause]
Cobb: Something that... you once knew to be true.
Saito: [remembering] Impossible...
Saito: Dare you take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.
C’mon, they did remember! And if you remember that you are not in the ‘real world’, would you not want to go back to reality? Especially when your kids are waiting for you?
I would like to believe that he woke up. In my honest to goodness opinion—He woke up and he’s in reality. Why? I saw some clues (some subtle, some not and some inferred) and they are the ff:
1. The totem (top) wobbling- The top is an important piece for Dobb. He is addicted to it and it is his way of distinguishing reality from dream. If the top is spun and it doesn’t stop spinning, that would mean he is still in a dream. If it stops, then he’d be in reality. In dream sequences of the movie, whenever the top is spun by Dom, the top swirls perfectly and continuously (like when he is in limbo with Saito). There is no wobbling. However, in that last scene where the totem was shown, I noticed that the top is wobbling proving he is indeed in reality.
2. The missing wedding ring- Whenever Dom is in one of the ‘dream sequences’—he’d have his wedding ring on his left ring finger. In the reality sequences, Dom doesn’t wear one anymore. In the scene in the airport, when he is presenting his passport to the immigration officer using his left hand—there is no ring.
3. The scene in Limbo with Saito-They actually woke up from Limbo. It is implied. Ken Watanabe’s character is holding a gun, of course we didn’t see him actually shoot himself or Leonardo but it is implied. We hear Dom say – ‘take a leap of faith, so we can be young men again’. Suddenly, both of them remembered. And in my opinion, this is the most important scene because it proves that they actually woke up. They had this very powerful conversation that might just help shed light to the confusing ending:
Saito: You remind me of someone... a man I met in a half-remembered dream. He was possessed of some radical notions.
Cobb: I came here to tell you... something.
[pause]
Cobb: Something that... you once knew to be true.
Saito: [remembering] Impossible...
Saito: Dare you take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.
C’mon, they did remember! And if you remember that you are not in the ‘real world’, would you not want to go back to reality? Especially when your kids are waiting for you?
The top stopped spinning, just my two cents! Picture taken from the net
But then again, Mr. Nolan also left clues that might infer that Dom didn’t wake up.
It is not the top/totem. It’s the children but it has nothing to do with the clothings because frankly there is a subtle difference in the dress plus the shoes (the girl is wearing a pair of black shoes throughout the dream sequence, and a pair of pink chuck taylor in the last scene). For each kid, there are two actors credited (aged 3 y.o and 20 months for James; and aged 5 and 3 for Philippa). So that means, they got older by approximately 2 years. There is actually no physical change when you look at the kids, be it in the dream sequences or the last scene. But if you would just remember the scene from the hotel where Dom is talking to his kids over the phone, the children sound older and the manner they speak and the things they say to their father are quite different from what you would expect from a 3 year old. I don’t know, they just sound mature for their age. They don’t sound 3 and 20 months to me but 5 and 3. If this theory is correct, then Dom didn’t wake up.
That explains why he didn’t bother to look at the totem at the last scene to ascertain whether he is in the ‘reality’ or still in the ‘dream’.
His desire to see his kids is so strong that he just doesn’t care anymore whether he is in the dream world or reality. But again, if this theory is correct, it would contradict number 3 and 4 above.
Well of course, I really can’t tell for sure. Only Nolan knows. The clues, I guess, are deliberately laid down in the movie to contradict one another so that the ending could be open for interpretation.
Confusing? But in my heart of hearts, I believe he woke up. C’mon, he was able to come out of the Limbo the first time and it is not impossible for him to do it again. But that’s just me. :)
