INCEPTION

Well, I finally saw the movie Inception and it was one of the best movies I have seen in a long time. Not only were the special effects phenomenal, but the storyline was unique and intriguing. Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the best actors of our generation and Ellen Page is one of the best up-and-coming actresses of the next generation. The film is not only entertaining, but also thought-provoking. Since the film contains many dream sequences and dreams within dreams, and as the characters struggle to remember what is real and what is a dream, it makes one ponder whether what we think is real life, is merely a dream. How do we know this is really happening? Are we dreaming right now? Are we a figment of someone else’s subconscious mind dreaming? How do we really know the truth?

There are two interesting notions brought up in the film. First, no one remembers the beginning of a dream. When we dream, we are suddenly in a school, a house, a building, but the dream never explains how we got there; much like life itself, on both the individual and collective levels. Each of us certainly does not remember when we were born. We don’t recall the first few years of our life. Instead, we merely take someone else’s word on it or see it through pictures, but we do not remember how we actually got into this world, how our life began. If we cannot remember how it began, is this merely a dream? On a larger scale, humanity in general has only theories as to how life began; no one really knows or remembers. Like a dream, there is no tangible beginning. Second, in the film when one dies in a dream, they wake up in real life. Does this mean that it is only when we die in this world, that we wake up to what is truly reality? Are our concepts of heaven and the after-life, actually real life and this which we call life, is merely a dream that we are waiting to wake up from? How do we know? As you can see, this film brings up many questions surrounding what is real and what is not. At least that is what I got out of the film. I highly suggest that you see this film. If for nothing else, because of the amazing special effects.