Sanity is when what you believe is what is real, and is what most others, who are sane, also do. It is when your dreams are your own, but your reality is the same as it is, for all. But what if what you see is what all others also see, but it isn’t so? Are you dreaming? Are you sane?
Until Inception, this was not possible. Nolan made it happen, though.
An intricate, mesmerizing maze, of mind games, that leave you undecided about yourself and shake your opinions of reality itself. A husband not able to let go of his dead wife, ridden with guilt, trying to make amends to a lost life. Others, adept in the craft of stealing ideas, who do it for a living - to help him. And the target, a vulnerable heir to an industrial empire.
The story keeps you hooked till the end. Makes you sit without batting an eyelid, lest you miss that one small action that takes you to another level of a dream. Dreams – That word which helped to explain the innermost wishes of a complex mind. Here the whole world of dreams in shown in a completely different dimension, you never ‘dreamt’ of.
The twists in the movie are explained before they actually happen, in case you get lost in the labyrinth of the ideas and dreams taking form on screen. The emotional fabric throughout keeps it taut, and gives a soul to it. In all the scenes where Marion Cotillard enters, ravishing, reeking of some mystery - which you feel you can never place your finger on - you feel like delving straight into it, and wanting to know every bit of this puzzle. And then there is the performance of the DiCaprio exuding charm and intelligence into every scene. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, is surely going to go places. He has carried that smart, suave character so easily. Especially, the scene in which he tricks Ellen Page to kiss him, makes you go.. Aaaah! Also the subtle rivalry between his character, Arthur and that of Mr. Eames played by Tom Hardy is a delight to watch. The dialogues in any Nolan movie, have been its life, and so it is again in this one. There is humour, sarcasm, pain, fear, sheer thrill and a myriad of other emotions that flow out to you in each scene.
While Christopher Nolan delved into the thin line between a hero and a villain in his last venture, this time, he plays with dreams and reality, shaking the very foundations that make our lives normal.
The special effects used throughout the movie, are just so perfect, you can literally feel it, when the water just blasts through the dream of Cobb, when he gets dunked, right in the beginning. The other scene where Ariadne, (Ellen page) plays with the architecture, trying out different things, like folding the whole place on top of itself, or shattering a glass partition to make a whole new way, just scream of technical brilliance.
This movie is going to join the other brilliant works of this great director, and many other greats who didn’t just give us movies to watch, but gave us things to chew on and to contemplate. I so badly wish some of our own directors are given a resounding ‘kick’ and woken up from the dream they have been living so long. Sigh! So long guys!
