Dreams, films, and reality in Chris Nolan's Inception

To sleep, perchance to dream, once wrote Shakespeare. To dream, and perhaps you get the chance to plant an idea in someone’s subconscious. Or at least, that’s the premise behind director Christopher Nolan’s science fiction thriller Inception, which has been drawing crowds since it opened last month. I watched the movie for the second time over the weekend and was surprised to see the cinema packed for the last screening on a Sunday evening, even though Inception was already on its second week. It seems the film has been getting a lot of word-of-mouth buzz, but why the fascination?

Well, it’s becoming increasingly rare for Hollywood directors to come up with a movie that has many of the elements in sync – perfect casting, fantastic special effects, tight editing, excellent sound design, and most important of all, an interesting story. Chris Nolan has achieved all that, although it might take at least two sittings to truly appreciate the film. The opening scene connects to a dream within a dream, a fast-paced series of scenes that gets the viewer hooked and probably gripping the armrest tightly, unsure of what will happen next. “I’m confused," my movie buddy whispered at the end of the first sequence of dreams. “You’ll get even more confused," I whispered back. From dream to film On the surface, the plot seems simple enough. The characters are involved in criminal gangs that reminded my buddy of Ocean’s Eleven and Italian Job. However, the similarity ends there, as the film creates an intricate fantasy world reminiscent of the Matrix movies. The dream concept allows the director to defy the laws of gravity, space, and time without the viewer having to suspend disbelief whenever another grand scene appears on the screen. And there are many such scenes: a Parisian arrondissement stacked roof to chimney, mirror images stretching into infinity, stairs going up and down and vanishing into nowhere, mazes of buildings extending into the horizon, men in snazzy suits crawling like spiders across the walls and ceilings of a long corridor. It’s definitely not the kind of movie you’d want to watch on DVD. Leonardo DiCaprio does not only provide star power to the film, but also imbues the emotion-packed scenes with the sensitivity that has made him a standout among the actors of his generation. However, it’s Marion Cotillard who steals the glory from the main players. Best known for picking up a Best Actress Oscar for her brilliant performance as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose, the talented French actress provides a glamorous distraction whenever she shows up in any scene, easily outshining DiCaprio. From film to reality Cotillard’s role provides the much-needed depth that distinguishes Inception from other movies in the heist genre. This is also where the mastery of the director comes in, as he weaves the life-affirming story of DiCaprio’s character and the commercial motives of Ken Watanabe’s business persona into a seamless whole. Guilt, acceptance, fear, honor – some of these ideas are not easy to convey on the big screen but they’re all there. Indeed, so many messages are crammed into the movie that viewers will hardly notice the lengthy two and a half hours it takes to unravel the substantial plot, as they stay glued to their seats in white-knuckled puzzlement and anticipation. The action picks up a lot faster in the final sequence that takes the characters deeper and deeper into several layers of dreams, the last one transporting the viewer back to the opening sequence. It is not quite explained how DiCaprio’s character gets to the last level, where the aging Saito (Watanabe) waits in limbo. This seems an oversight for a film that takes great pains to detail the inception concept from the start and how the actors enter the various stages of the dream, elucidating clearly on the architectural and chemical ingredients needed in every phase. Also, it had to take a second viewing to realize that Saito’s hand on the gun explains how the two lead characters get "kicked" from the dream and back into the reality of a plane landing in 20 minutes. Nevertheless, the film comes out as an edifying take on the dangers of tinkering with someone else’s mind. One person’s dream, after all, can be another person’s nightmare. Each one is shaped by different experiences and circumstances, and it does take a lot of inner strength to deal with the new and unknown. I would not be surprised if the artsy types will trash the feel-good ending of Inception, but somehow I found it a satisfying counterpoint to the heart-thumping scenes of car chases and near-misses in much of the movie. When the totem stops spinning, the viewer snaps back to the real world. It is, after all, only a film. It is a film about dreams even though a few critics, and some people it seems, can’t tell the difference. – GMANews.TV