"Inception"

On my trip from Guayaquil, Ecuador to Trujillo, Peru via the most dangerous border crossing in South America, I sat beside the coolest Indian kid ever. He had just graduated from university and worked for 8 months at a crap job living at home in order to save to go on a trip with his friends to South America. We talked for about 6 hours then finally drifted off to sleep. He told me about the Salt Flats in Bolivia and about the rain forest. I told him about the Galapagos and staying with my friend's family. We talked about his future: did he want to go to law school or not-- was it worth the debt? I talked about my love-hate relationship with teaching. And we talked movies. He told me that one thing that got him excited about going back was that he was going to get to see Inception. Apparently all his friends were blasting Facebook with how fabulous it was. Then this week another friend posted that "Inception was a total mind bomb." Finally I was at a RedBox at the Wal-Mart in Gastonia the day before the snow. They had it; I rented it.

Warning: there may be spoilers.

I watched it two nights in a row. It reminds me of Shutter Island-- it's the Funhouse mirrors psychological thriller genre. It's the questionable narrator issue, which is fun. And trippy and, at times, annoying. It was definitely entertaining and well-acted. Most of the characters were likeable.

The movie plays with how dreams function, and, consequently, how thieves can steal ideas-- or in this case, plant ideas. There were multiple story lines, which makes sense given the format of a dream within a dream within a dream. The two main ones for me was for Cobb to succeed in planting the idea in Fischer and for Ariadne to help Cobb defeat Mal/subconscious.

What struck me the most were the metaphors of the characters' names: Dom Cobb, Arthur, Mal, Ariadne, Eames, Yosef, Fischer, Phillipa and Luke. These two short articles Impose's article and Technorati's article give you a break down of the meaning.

It's engaging and entertaining. It raises a lot of interesting issues. Different scenes and connections have been popping into my head all day.

The line that struck me the most was one that Eames said to Arthur as he pulled out a grenade launcher: "You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling." Arthur had been trying unsuccessfully to fend off bad guys with a rifle.

This quotation struck me because it's a) hilarious and b) true. I so often settle for a far smaller and duller life than God has called me. Obedience and holiness is daring to dream a little bigger. Prayer, hope, love and faith are daring to dream a little bigger. So often we let marketers tell us what to want and how we should let ourselves be defined.

The second most important quotation came while they were discussing how to plant the idea into Fischer's mind. They'd already discussed that for an idea to stick they'd have to translate it into emotion. Cobb goes on to say: "I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time."

This quotation struck me as a teacher and a friend. I need to keep this in my mind when I want to reach someone, including myself. It reminds me of the idea of always making decisions out of a place of consolation instead of desolation.

Here's a list of quotations from Inception.

There are definitely parts of the movie that are contrived. But the fight scene without gravity trumps the Couching Tiger Hidden Dragon scenes... or at least matches it. It's worth seeing if for just the idea of layered dreams. I'd like to own this movie when it becomes affordable. So five months after the coolest Indian kid ever planted the idea of watching the movie, I saw Inception.