By John C.

Every film seen with an audience is a shared experience.  We laugh, we cry, we think with complete strangers.  When a film is seen with friends, than the opportunity is there for discussion afterwards.  I truly believe that it’s just as important to be able to tell people with a smile on your face that you enjoyed a film, as it is important for those that prompt discussion.  And no film this summer has prompted discussion quite like Christopher Nolan’s mind-blowing masterpiece, Inception.  It’s been two weeks now since I experienced the film, and I haven’t stopped thinking about it since.

You can read all of our spoiler-free thoughts on the movie here, and because this is such a hot topic expect to see more opinion pieces and articles in the future.  Today I’m strictly going to talk about a few of the different interpretations I’ve been hearing about the ending, as well as go into my own thoughts a little bit.  The moral premise and visual design are topics all their own.  So if you’ve yet to see the film, there are major spoilers after the break.

I think, if you pay close attention, it’s fairly easy to understand the plot line of Inception.  Cobb is performing an inception on Fischer, and there are many reasons to believe that it was successful.  Where the story gets complicated is in the subplot with Cobb’s deceased wife, Mal.  Cobb knew that inception was a process that worked because he planted the idea in Mal’s head that blurred her line between dreams and reality, which caused her to go insane and commit suicide.

I believe that she is dead in the real world, and only still exists in Cobb’s dream world.  But some people have said that if she keeps trying to convince Cobb to commit suicide in his dream, than is it possible that she is the one trying to give him the kick and send him back into reality?  I think that she is just a projection from Cobb’s own memory, born out of guilt, that is trying to convince him to stay in his dream.

Some have even wondered if Saito is the one performing inception on Cobb, trying to plant the seed of an idea to blur the line between his dream and his reality.  And that is what he means when he tells Cobb that if he performs the inception he has a way to get him back to the United States to spend his life with his kids.  Or is the whole thing just an experiment played out by Ariadne, or just a desperate attempt by Arthur to free him from his past?  I think going this far just complicates everything further, and you could get stuck in limbo just thinking about it.

Some have even suggested that the entire film is Cobb’s dream, and the totem will continue spinning until he naturally does or doesn’t wake up.  Other’s have suggested that everything up to those final few scenes took place within Cobb’s mind – kind of a Wizard of Oz ending.  But there is plenty here to convince me that this is not the case.  Cobb is seen wearing a wedding ring in his dream sequences, but not in the real world scenes, and the real people behave differently than the projections.  Besides, when you view Nolan’s other work, I honestly don’t believe he would have it all be a dream – it’s just too easy an answer.

People have told me that they think the fact that Cobb uses Mal’s totem – the iconic silver top – is a sign that everything was imagined.  But after Mal’s death, continuing to use her totem would gain dual significance for Cobb.  Not only would it allow him to ground himself back in reality, but it would also be a reminder of the dangers of messing with someone’s mind.  But perhaps using someone else’s totem, something that he warns the others against, is partially what’s driving him over the edge.

For me, as I watched the movie, the line between what scenes take place in the subconscious and which in the real world was pretty clear-cut.  The only scenes in question in my mind are the final few.  As Cobb walks through the airport, just waved through security with no hassles, and brought back to his house where he is greeted by his kids, who are seemingly the same age as they were in his dream, we aren’t really sure what to believe.  On one hand, everything is too perfect – this is the best possible ending.  As he walks off to go visit his kids, he spins his top, mainly out of habit.  If this is reality it will stop spinning.  But if this is a dream, it will go on forever.  As the top starts to teeter, but not fall, the screen cuts to black.

And that is what is so brilliant about the film: It keeps us glued to the screen for the entire 148-minute running-time, and gives us something to talk and think about for long after it’s over.  Through that final scene, Nolan has managed to successfully perform an inception – an idea planted so deep into our subconscious that it is impossible to forget.  And, long after we see the movie, the question remains, will the totem stop spinning?