Jan. 29, 2025

Disclaimer: This movie is rated PG-13. Reviewing the parent's guide online is recommended before watching, as there are numerous themes of violence throughout the film.

With the creation of Inception, Director Christopher Nolan paints a world full of intrigue once again. Known for his impeccable creations, Nolan has previously worked on The Dark Knight, Interstellar, Oppenheimer, but one of his films that stands out the most is Inception.

Inception follows a man named Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) who steals information from people's minds by undergoing a dream state. He enters into worlds created by the dreamer's subconscious, and while the dreamer is unknowingly unconscious, he finds information that he is seeking from them. However, he cannot go home. While seeing his children's faces once again is his greatest desire, something holds him back from returning. An offer arises from Saito, a business magnate (Kim Watanabe) to return home; a dangerous offer.  He has to plant an idea into the mind of an influential CEO’s son, Fischer (Cillian Murphy) without him knowing. In other words, the inception of the mind.

Unironically, this movie brings us back to reality.  In the hopes of attaining what we desire, we aim to turn our dreams into reality. However, once these dreams become our reality we can no longer think they’re all perfect. To expand, sometimes the world we try to create for ourselves in the decisions we make isn’t right for us at all, and in the pursuit of perfection, imperfection is discovered. Not to say dreams shouldn’t be pursued, but the idolization of what they can bring us (or what’s in store for us at the finish line) might not always be what’s right. Humans consistently pursue desires, what’s in the past, things we can’t let go of, or what’s not meant for us at all. Slowly our worldly desires can corrupt us, like the dreams you can’t differentiate from reality in the movie. In life, as Christians, we can re-shift our focus towards trust: trusting God's plans and trusting the good that can come out of reality despite our longing to create a world for ourselves where everything goes our way. Slowly, greed turns to corruption. These themes as well as many others flicker throughout the entire film.  

From a filmmaking standpoint, Nolan’s use of composition, rule of thirds, and mise-en-scene provide for this film eye-catching attributes. Additionally, he uses architectural appeals, repetitive structures, and gravitational anomalies to make you truly feel as if the scene is just an interesting dream. However, don’t watch the film hoping for something to jump out at you, a wow factor perhaps. You might not get it. However, if you rightfully give this film the amount of attention it deserves, you slowly find yourself asking ‘why.’ Or thinking, ‘wait.’ You might even find yourself questioning the director himself. ‘Why did it begin like that?’ ‘How this?’ ‘How that?’ Or even, ‘How does the movie end?’ Maybe you’ll know. Maybe you won’t. Maybe you’ll never know until you watch.