Inception
*Spoiler Alert*
Inception is a beautifully marketed movie. The main reasons being:
- It makes you want to talk about it and discuss it.
- The more you talk about it - the more you want to watch it the 2nd time.
- Once you watch it the 2nd time - the more clearer yet murky things become!
- Its a movie - which is cool to like. Mainly because not liking it makes labels you as someone who didn’t understand it…which will only be cool if there is a majority of non-understanding people in your peer group :-)
- Its been beautifully directed and executed. Sheer genius. Brilliance.
Just watched it for the 2nd time…
So what happened in the end?
One of the possibilities is that Cobb was still in a dream…
Mainly because the totem continued to roll - though we are pushed to imagine a slight wobble. Also the children are wearing the same clothes as they did when Cobb last saw them - How is that possible?
So was it all a dream? Maybe Mal died and went back to reality and Cobb was living in this dream world.
The first time I saw the movie…it left a lot of questions…
- Why did Saito age but Cobb did not?
- Since Robert died before Saito he should have been pretty aged when they reached Level 4.
- How did they reach the aircraft?
- Was it all a dream at the end?
So here is what I think happened (in short):
Cobb actually died (He was stabbed by Mal + Building collapsed too) in Level 4 but missed the synchronized kick…
So he went back to Level 1 (in the van under water) and died there as a result of drowning.
Dying there took him to the Limbo level.
Meanwhile Saito actually died in Level 1 too (and thereby also Level 2 and Level 3) - and the moments he spent ‘dead’ at Level 1 turned out to be 50+ years in the limbo level. Cobb was plain lucky to find Saito as soon as he hit the Limbo level.
How did they revive Robert Fischer?
Well one thing can be that he wasn’t full dead when they took him down to the next level. And he got kicked back straight into the flight via all the synchronized kicks. But Cobb mentions that ‘There is no point in reviving him’ - which probably means that he was dead. Hence…they went to the ‘Limbo level’. Cobb already knew this level well and their main job was to ‘find’ Robert so that they could kick him back. Mal helped them in finding him and they were able to get him back.
How did Saito and Cobb reach the plane?
Well they show Saito with a gun…so Saito probably killed Cobb and then himself. Since Cobb+Mal had reached reality from limbo via the freight train…similarly Cobb+Saito reached reality after dying.
Or maybe Saito and Cobb create their own dream world - where everything is fine.
Confusing? Probably will see it the 3rd time! :-)
