INCEPTION [2010]: Details & Explaination

INCEPTION



"Inception" is a process of planting an idea. A "seed" that will define a person..... or destroy a person.

This movie has made a lot of debates around the plot and specially on the ending. At the ending, they cut the movie into black out before the Totem falls to make people wondering and keep talking about it [and watch it again]. (^.^)v

Nolan made the ending seemed "unsolved" coz he wanted to confuse the audience, rather than giving a clear ending, he's giving a "challenge" to think and try figuring out the answer on their own.

There's no trick or twist ending — most of the answers are given to us in the very first scene. We just have to pay attention on the details.

In the end, Dominic Cobb made it back to REALITY.
I did a lot of observation while watching the movie, and searched for details too. And the results leads to REALITY.





CONTENT
1. Summary
2. Basic Thought
3. Evidence Details
4. Totem
5. Starts at The Ending
6. Cobb & Mal
7. Saito & The Mission
    -Three Layers
    -Dream Layers
    -The Inception
    -The Pinmill
8. Kicks
9. Getting Back To Reality
10. Limbo
11. Projections
12. Professor Miles
13. Character's Name
14. The Roles
15. The Dream Machine
16. Miscelanous
      -Trailers
      -Soundtracks
      -Posters

















1. SUMMARY

Dominic Cobb was accused of murdering his wife [which actually killed herself], so he cannot return to his family [and children] in the States.
Then he got an offer from Saito that gives him a chance to return home. Saito made a promise to make the charge on Cobb dropped if the mission succeed.
The mission is to plant an idea in Robert Fischer Jr.'s mind to break up his father's company.
However, it's not that simple. Cobb is haunted by guilt, since he's the one who "accidently" planted the idea in Mal's mind. So in his last mission, in order to succeed [so he'll be able to go home to his kids], Cobb has to struggle with his guilty feeling - facing Mal's 'shadow' that he created in his subconcious.

"An idea is like a paracite, resilient, highly contagious,
the smallest seed of an idea can grow.
It could grow and define... or destroy you."

2. BASIC THOUGHT

******************************

I have my own thoughts to think that Cobb is back in reality.


INCEPTION contains 2 elements: Dream and Reality.
The options are:
1) It is all a DREAM, or
2) Some are DREAMS, some are REAL


>>> All DREAM, it could be either TOO EASY or TOO COMPLEX..

# It could be TOO EASY ->> Nothing matters, anything can happen in dreams.
Does all the rules really exist, or all just imagination?
Does Arthur and the team really exist, or they're just Projections?
Dream rules, layers, totem, machine, characters, place, time, memory, etc… they all mean nothing. Because, it is a dream. Anything can happen, no one knows what was really exist, what was really happening in Cobb’s life before. Probably there’s no such thing as a Limbo as well. So, there’s no use questioning things like ‘why, how, what, where’. Just enjoy the whole movie then. (^_^)

# It could be TOO COMPLEX ->> There will be too many assumptions. We can make so many versions by doing experiments. We can make various combinations in our own thoughts about which was based on truth, who or what really exist, and which ones are just his imagination.
Too complex, so.... Why bother? /(o_O")\

IF MAL IS RIGHT and she's trying to save Cobb who is stucked in a Limbo all along, she wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble, she can just kill Cobb from the start to wake him up. And she wouldn't be asking him to stay with her. And in the 4th level [dream] she also says that their real kids are there with her, and she calls for them so Cobb can see their face, but Cobb doesn't want to see, because he doesn't want to get confused. If Mal is right, how come Mal states that their "real" kids are in the limbo with her and Cobb?
Based on this, I put more focus on the next option.


>>> There are DREAMS and REALITY.
1) Cobb was in Dream, then Reality, and goes back to Dream, he got lost and stays in Dream.
2) Cob was in Dream, then Reality, goes back to Dream, and made it back to Reality.


I think Christopher Nolan is a great Writer & Director. Since he put lots of effort in giving so many details and complexity in the story, I’d go with the “DREAM and REALITY” theory.
And based on this, the clues found in the movie leads to "back to reality".

******************************

3. EVIDENCE DETAILS

******************************

At ending, the Top wobbles --> REALITY. In dreams Totem spins constantly & smooth, never wobbles.
If we listen carefully after the black out [not after the credits], there's a SOUND of the Totem WOBBLING n FALL. After the black out, the background music plays and we can slightly heard the wobbling sound, the falling sound appears just before the full cast list rolls.
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=Ah2QP4p40DVi3TSaA.xu7bPty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20100802012425AAut9pQ&show=7#profile-info-AA10398573

Dileep Rao [Yusuf] interview:"You know what, I'll just say this: Use your ears not your eyes."

The only people who know the weight & feel of that totem are Mal & Cobb, and since Mal is dead, Cobb is the only one left who knows the totem’s tactile details.
So YES, he could certainly use it as a measure of reality, the totem was not “ruined” by him using it.
*
Cobb doesn’t wear a wedding ring in reality, but he wears a WEDDING RING in dreams [in dreams he's still together with Mal]. He doesn't wear a wedding ring at the end.
*




He's not dreaming all along. After his mission to get Saito's secret, Cobb sitting in his hotel room alone, spinning the Top [Mal's Totem] and watching it intently, gun in hand. He's ready to blow his brains out if the top keeps spinning, in order to “wake himself up”. The Top stops.
Cobb also spins the Top until it stops after waking up from Ariadne's dream [where Mal stabbed Ariadne].

*
THE KIDS looked a bit OLDER in the ending [see picture below and compare body size and different hair].
In the credits there are 2 pair of kids:
Claire Geare - Phillipa (3 years) & Magnus Nolan - James (20 months)
Taylor Geare - Phillipa (5 years) & Johnathan Geare - James (3 years)
*
The kids are wearing similar outfits to the ones he remembers [in his dreams], but they're not the same.
SHOES: In dreams they're wearing BLACK shoes, at the end Philippa wears PINK canvas shoes & James wears WHITE sport shoes.
CLOTHES: Philippa wears a DIFFERENT PINK DRESS, sleeveless with an INNER WHITE SHIRT. In dreams she wears 1 piece of short-sleeves pink dress.
JAMES wears bluish-color shirt with thinner lines. In dreams he wears redish-color shirt with wider lines.
And there are PAINTING TOOLS & BRUSHES on the table at the end.
*
Remember, almost all the major of the flick has been taking place in dreams, the MIND WORKS FASTER IN DREAMS. 5 minutes=1 hour; 10 hours=1 week. Dream time is longer than actual time (even longer as they go deeper into the dream, and much longer in Limbo). No reference about exactly HOW LONG Cobb has been away, we can't rely to the age of the kids as an indication that he’s in the real/dream world.
*
Michael Caine has revealed the "true" ending of the film, stating that, "The spinning top drops at the end, that's when I come back on. If I'm there it's real, because I'm never in the dream. I'm the guy who invented the dream."
*
One way to know you're in a dream is that you couldn't remember how you get there.
When Cobb wakes up in the plane, he's back to where he was, he's not waking up in some unknown place with no explanation of how he got there.
*
When Cobb wakes up, he looked like trying to regain his senses, his expression shows that he's thinking and wondering if he's realy awake. Saito wakes up in kinda awkward position and has a hard-to-explain expression on his face. Old soul that finally returns to youthly body. Then he honor his word, and make the call to drop the charges on Cobb. And as Cobb walks through the immigration check and drags his luggage out, his worried and relieved expression is really shown.
Cobb: Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.
***** ***** *****

Cobb really care whether it's real or not, because he cares for the children, not just for hisown sake to feel happy. It does matter for Cobb to go back to his kids in reality. These dialogues from Inception shows the importance of that.

Cobb (to Ariadne): I need to get home. That's all I care about right now.

Cobb (to Prof. Miles): Reality... Those kids... your grand children... They are waiting for their father to come back home. That's their reality. And this job, this LAST job, that's how I get there. I would not be standing here if I knew any other ways. I need an Architect who is as good as I was.
***** ***** *****

Dreams (Left)
Smaller shape. Curlier hair. Never see the faces.Philippa: One piece pink dress, short sleeve. Black rubber shoes.James: Red-ish shirt, large box-motive. Pale brown shorts, length under knee. Black slippers.The table is clean.

Real World (Right)
Bigger shape. Straight hair.Philippa: Sleeveless pink dress, white inner shirt. Pink canvas shoes.James: Blue-ish shirt, more solid stripe-motive. Darker brown shorts, length upper knee. White sport shoes.The table is full with painting tools, toys and fruits.

There is a "theory" saying that Cobb stucks in his dream during the test in Mombasa, this is not true. 

Cobb dreamt about Mal again, and the dream brought up his guilt, made him remember how Mal suicides and this is symbolized by the window scene. When Cobb wakes up in shock after his dream, he's not wearing his wedding ring, this means he's awake from his dream.

Mal couldn't be right.If Mal is right & trying to save Cobb who stuck in a Limbo, she wouldn’t have to go through all the trouble, she could just kill Cobb from the start to wake him up.
In the 4th level [dream] she says their real kids are there with her, and she calls for them so Cobb can see their face, Cobb doesn't want to see, because he doesn't want to get confused.
If Mal is right, their "real" kids shouldn't be in the Limbo. Remember, Mal wants Cobb to suicide with her to get back to the real world, but then she wants Cobb to stay there with her and their kids. It's a contradictive.

Mal: You're infecting my mind!
Cobb: I was trying to save you.
Mal: You betrayed me, but you can still make amends. You can still keep your promise. We can still be together, right here. In the world we built together.

 

******************************

4. TOTEM

******************************

Arthur was holding his Totem [a Loaded Dice], and when Ariadne wanted to touch and see it, Arthur didn’t let her.

Arthur: I can't let you touch it because that would ruin the magic of the totem.

At this point Arthur told Ariadne that Totem can be used “to know if you’re in someone else’s dream” – that’s why he didn’t let Ariadne to hold it. Because if she see it, touch it, feel it, then she will be able to “duplicate” it and manipulate it in a dream. He said that in context of not letting others know the Totem’s details .

Arthur never said that it is THE ONLY USE of Totem. None ever make a statement that Totem’s function is ONLY “to know if you’re in someone else’s dream”. No one in the movie ever said that Totem only has 1 function.
***** ***** *****

Arthur explains to Ariadne about Totems, something which tells a person whether he is in a dream or real life. Cobb has a small brass top (same as the one we see in the beginning of the movie). Arthur explains that in a dream a spinning top would never stop. Arthur has a loaded dice. Ariadne sets to build a totem, a chess piece, for herself.

I don’t know how a Loaded Dice and a Chess Piece works to determine is it dream or not. Maybe if he rolls the Loaded Dice it will end up showing certain side, or it will keep rolling, they didn't explain this. And honestly I have no idea how a Chess Piece would behave in a dream.
But The Top does have a "significant behaviour" in dreams, it will keep spinning constantly. This could be a reason why Cobb choose to use Mal’s Totem, because it has certain behavior in a dream.
***** ***** *****

Does the fact that Cobb uses Mal’s Totem mean it doesn’t work as a totem and therefore he never knows if he’s in reality or not?
Again, we’re reading a little too deep into things.
The only people who know the weight and feel of that totem are Mal and Cobb, and since Mal is dead, Cobb is the only one left who knows the totem’s tactile details.
So YES, he could certainly use it as a measure of reality, the totem was not “ruined” by him using it.
***** ***** *****

The sentence “to know if you’re in someone else’s dream” can be interpretated as:
1) You are in a Dream, but it’s “someone else’s Dream” [OK if it’s a shared Dream with your team/friend, NOT OK if being invaded].
2) You were in Reality, then someone made you asleep, made you enter “someone else’s Dream” which makes you as a “mark/target” [like Fischer], invades your mind.

If Robert Fischer has a Totem, he would realized that he’s “in someone else’s dream”, noted that he was not sleeping before. (^^,)
***** ***** *****


How long a Top would spins before it wobbles and falls depends on how strong Cobb spins it, depends on Cobb's condition too [nervous/in a hurry/relax], depends on the surface [smooth or not].

At the ending Cobb is more relaxed, and it would even felt longer because we are WAITING on what's going to happen [stops or not]. When we are "expecting" something, time seems to run slower/longer.
Btw, a girl spins THE SAME TOTEM on YouTube, it spins for 58 seconds before it started to wobble [Her father works on making the Totems for the movie Inception]. (^_^)

I counted the seconds from the movie:
At the hotel - after Cobb failed to steal Saito's secret: stopped 34 seconds [started to wobble after 19 seconds]
At the warehouse - after Mal stabbed Ariadne in Ariadne's dream: stopped 30 seconds [wobbled after 13 seconds]
Ending: stopped 48 seconds [wobbled after 39 seconds]

******************************

5. Starts at The Ending 
******************************
The movie start with a "flash-forward", showing Cobb appears on the beach and then having conversation with old Saito. It's a storyline technique. This scene is shown again near the ending, before they wake up on the plane.

Saito: You remind me of someone... a man I met in a half-remembered dream. He was possessed of some radical notions.
Cobb: I came here to tell you... something.
[pause]
Cobb: Something that... you once knew to be true.
Saito: [remembering] Impossible...
Saito: Dare you take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.

The scene in the beginning and in the near-end looks a bit different, but it is from the same sequence. Nolan cuts some frames and uses different frames for the beginning and the ending. For instance, from the sequence of "ABCDEFGHIJ", he shows "ABDFG" in the beginning, and he shows ABCEHIJ in the end. (^_^)v

ABCDEFGHIJ [Full scene]
AB..D..FG...... [Beginning]
ABC..E....HIJ [Ending]

After the "flash-forward", it jumped to the main story [flashback] where they have a similar situation, Cobb was talking face to face with Saito. They were talking about "extraction", Cobb and Arthur offered to train Saito how to stop extractor from stealing secrets, and in order to learn that Saito had to tell them his secret. This scene took place inside a 2nd layer dream where Cobb and his team were trying to steal Saito's secret.


* Arthur's dream - 2nd Layer: Saito's Resort & Vault
Cobb and Arthur are trying to persuade Saito to tell them his company's secret. But Saito suspected them and they failed to persuade him. So they have to try another way, by entering Saito's vault to get (steal) the secret.

When Cobb enters the vault and steals the document, Mal shows up with Saito. Mal is Cobb's projection that keeps interupting and messing Cobb's mission (brought by Cobb's guilty feeling).
Mal shots Arthur's leg. To release him from pain, Cobb shots Arthur on the head. As Arthur dies, the dream starts to collapse.


* Nash's dream - 1st Layer: Saito's apartment
Arthur wakes up in a room, Nash is waiting there, Saito and Cobb are still sleeping. Saito starts to wake up while Cobb "refusing" to wake up because he's still trying to read the secret documents, and he finds the most important thing is missing. Nash pushes Cobb into the bathtub as a "kick" to wake him up.

Nash "created" the projection of the mob in chaos to make Saito feels the urgency to get away from there bafore their building gets attacked too, they're hoping Saito would tell his secret under that pressure.
Cobb threatened Saito to reveal the secret that he hides with a gun. And Cobb pushes Saito into the carpet. When Saito fell on it, he starts laughing... Nash (the architect) made a mistake with the carpet, so Saito found out that they're still dreaming. The mission fails.

Saito: I've always hated this carpet. It stained and fade in such a distinctive ways. That way you know it's made of wools. But now... I'm lying on pollyester. Which means I'm not lying on my carpet in my apartment. You have lived after your reputation, Mr. Cobb. I am still dreaming.


* Real world: Waking up on a train
Arthur: Asshole! How did you mess up the carpet?
Nash: It wasn't my fault.
Arthur: You're the architect!
Nash: I didn't know he was going to rub his damn cheek on it!

The mission to extract secret from Saito's mind failed. Saito knew about it, but he let them trying, Saito made that as an audition for Cobb and his team. Saito had other plan for them. He wanted to use Cobb for something else, not to steal, but to plant an idea.


Saito catches Nash to tell him where Cobb and Arthur are hiding, he wants to meet Cobb to offer him the job, to do Inception on Robert Fischer Jr.

When Cobb and Arthur are trying to run away from Japan, Saito gets into them, Nash betrayed Cobb and Arthur by telling Saito where they are. Saito gives Cobb the honor to kill Nash for his betrayal, bu Cobb says it's not his way to deal with problems.

Saito doesn't kill Nash, he lets him go, but he says he cannot guarantee what the Cobbol Company would do to him if they finds him.
*****

And the story continues...

******************************

6. COBB & MAL

******************************

Cobb & Mal learn about dream layers, they go deeper & deeper till they lost their way.

Cobb: We were working together. We were exploring the concept of a dream within a dream.

I kept pushing things. I wanted to go deeper and deeper. I wanted to go further. I just didn't understand the concepts that hours could turn into years down there. That we could get trapped so deep. That when we... when wind up on the shore of our subconscious we lost sight of what was real.

Ariadne: How long were you stuck there?

Cobb: Something like fifty years.

In the LIMBO, they built their world based on their memories.
They spent 50 years there, at first it feels like gods, then Cobb feels something just not right. But Mal chose to think that it's real. She locked away a secret, deep inside herself, something she once knew to be true... but chose to forget.

Cobb enters Mal mind to find out her secret & found her locked totem. Then he planted the idea [inception] that it is not real and they have to die to return to reality. Then Mal agree & they kill themself on train rail.

Cobb said he go deeper to search what's on Mal's mind, then he found the Totem is locked in the safe in the doll house, in the house where Mal use to grow up. Cobb planted the idea that their word isn't real in Mal's mind. Cobb spins the Totem, it never fall in dreams. This also symbolizes that in Mal's mind the Totem keep on spinning, that they're still dreaming.
Unfortunately, after they suicide and wake up in real world, the idea still sticks in Mal's mind.

Cobb: It wasn’t so bad at first, feeling like gods. Eventually it’s become impossible for me to live like that.

Ariadne: But what about her?

Cobb: She locked away a secret, deep inside herself, the truth that she once known to be true... but chose to forget. Limbo became her reality.


After returning from the Limbo, Mal still thinks that their world is not real, that’s why she keep asking Cobb to kill themselves together, but she doesn’t want to do it alone, because she loves Cobb too much.

Cobb:  Eventually, she tells me the truth that she was possessed by an idea, just one simple idea that changed everything, that our world wasn't real and in order to get back to the reality, We'll have to kill ourselves. 

On their anniversary day, Mal sets up a trap that makes it look like a murder, so even if Cobb doesn’t commited suicide with her, he still can’t see their kids anyway.

Mal has sent a letter to their attorney, saying that she feels scared, because Cobb threatened to kill her. She said she’s doing it to erase the guilty feeling on Cobb to leave their kids.

Why Mal is across the building? Mal sets up a trap so Cobb will be accused of murder. If she's in the same room, Cobb would be able to stop her, that's why she waits from the room accross the building.

Cobb: You're waiting for a train. A train that will take you far away. You can't be sure where it will take you. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together.
Cobb: What's the most resilient parasite? An Idea.
Cobb: Never recreate from your memory. Always imagine new places.


Cobb: Listen, there's something you should know about me. About inception. An idea is like a paracite, resilient, highly contagious, the smallest seed of an idea can grow. It could grow and define... or destroy you.
Mal: The smallest idea, such as... this world is not real...

At the ending part when Cobb is holding Mal in his arms, Mal said "..but you promised that we'd grow old together..."
Cobb replied, "But we did. We spent our time and grow old together." Then the scene shows them walking and holding hands in old age. I think Cobb was reffering to the 50 years they spent together as "growing old together". It's like he is planting another "inception" [idea] in Mal's mind so she can let go and "die" in peace, also releasing himself from the guilty feeling too.

Mal: Do you remember when you asked me to marry you? You said that we’d grow old together.

Cobb: But we did… you don’t remember? I miss you more than I can bear. We had our time together. Now I have to let you go.

*****



After Mal dies, during his missions, Cobb is always affraid to bring Mal's projections into his dreams, but on the other side he can't let go and builds his dreams based on his memory with Mal.

Cobb: you shouldn't be here
Ariadne: I just want to see what kind of tests you're doing here alone every night.
Cobb: Whatever it was, it has nothing to do with you.
Ariadne: It has everything to do with me. You've asked me to shared dreams with you.
Cobb: Not these. These are my dreams.

Ariadne: These aren't just dreams, these are memories and you said never to use memories!

Ariadne: Why do you do this to yourself?
Cobb: It's the only way I can still dream.
Ariadne: Why is it so important to dream?
Cobb: In my dreams we're still together.
*****



At the final part when Cobb and Ariadne finds Fischer in the Limbo (4th layer), Cobb finally learns to let go, he admits his guilt and accepts the fact that Mal is gone.

Mal: You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe? What do you feel?
Cobb: Guilt.

Mal: We'd be together forever. You promised me.
Cobb: I know. But we can't. And I'm sorry.
Mal: You remember when you asked me to marry you? You said you dreamt that we'd grow old together.
Cobb: And we did... I miss you more than I can bear... but we had our time together. And now I have to let go...

Cobb: I can't stay with her anymore because she doesn't exist.
Mal: I'm the only thing you do believe in anymore.
Cobb: I wish. I wish more than anything. But I can't imagine you with all your complexity, all you perfection, all your imperfection. Look at you. You are just a shade of my real wife. You're the best I can do; but I'm sorry, you are just not good enough.
*****



Mal didn't try to kill Cobb in the dreams, just messing with Cobb's missions. The only time Mal wants to kill Cobb is in the last dream, in the Limbo (4th layer). Mal stabs Cobb with a knife to kill Cobb, to make Cobb lost in the Limbo and stays with her.

Mal: You're infecting my mind!
Cobb: I was trying to save you.
Mal: You betrayed me, but you can still make amends. You can still keep your promise. We can still be together, right here. In the world we built together.

*****







How long have Mal and Cobb been asleep while they're stuck for 50 years in Limbo?

We can try doing the calculation with the formula, which is 1:12.The deeper the dream, we just need to multiply it with 12 etc.


Cobb: Five minutes in the world gives you an hour in the dream.

5 minutes in real world  =  an hour (60 minutes in 1st layer dream)
1 minute in real world  =  12 minutes in 1st layer dream
So the formula is 1:12.


Let's do the Math! Here we go....
1 year = 365 days = 8,760 hours (365 days x 24 hours)
50 years = 8,760 hours x 50 = 438,000 hours

Limbo (50 years):   438,000 hours
Upper Layer:   438,000 : 12    =   36,500 hours
Upper Layer:   36,500 : 12      =   3,041.67 hours
Upper Layer:   3,041.67 : 12   =   253.47 hours
Upper Layer:   253.47 : 12      =   21.12 hours (21 hours and 7 minutes)
Upper Layer:   21.12 : 12        =   1.76 hours (an hour and 45 minutes)


We have 2 possibilities, a day (21.12 hours) or an hour and 45 minutes (1.76 hours)
Cobb & Mal learn about dream layers, they go deeper & deeper till they lost their way. So we can assume Cobb and Mal went 4 or 5 layer deep inside their dream when they lost sight of reality and stuck in the Limbo.


Option 1
Real world: 1.76 hours (an hour and 45 minutes)
1st dream:  21.12 hours
2nd dream:  253.47 hours
3rd dream:  3,041.67 hours
4th dream:  36,500 hours
5th dream (Limbo):  438,000 hours (50 years)


Option 2
Real world:  21.12 hours (21 hours and 7 minutes)
1st dream:  253.47 hours
2nd dream:  3,041.67 hours
3rd dream:  36,500 hours
4th dream (Limbo):  438,000 hours (50 years)

******************************

7. SAITO & THE MISSION

******************************

The old man in the beginning and near-end scene is Saito.
When Saito asked Cobb in the helicopter, whether Cobb wanted to go home and see his kids again, he said he CAN make the charges dropped. And Cobb asked...
Cobb: If I even could do it... I need a guarantee. How do I know you can deliver?
Saito: You don't. But I can. Dare you take a leap of faith? Or become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone.

Saito said that his company is the last company who's still standing between Fischer's company and the total energy dominates. And his company can no longer compete. This would make Fischer's company takes over half of the entire world's energy marketplace. If this happens, Fischer company will become a new global superpower dominator.
Saito: The world needs Robert Fischer to change his mind.

Cobb: You're asking me for Inception. I hope you do understand the gravity of that request. Cobb: The seed that we planted in this man's mind may change everything.
***** ***** *****

-Why THREE Layers?

They have to make 3 layers, because they have to plant the "seed" deep enough, to make Robert Fischer Jr. thinks that it is HIS idea. And the deeper the dream is, the deeper the subconscious is. So when he wakes up, he won't really remember about meeting them in dreams.

Arthur mentioned about this in helicopter. In order to make an idea grow, that person must think that it is HIS idea.

Arthur: Ok, here's me planting an idea in your head, I say "don't think about elephants", what do you think?"
Saito: Elephants.
Arthur: Right, but you know it's not your idea, because I give it to you. The Subject's mind can always trace the genesis of the idea.

Cobb: Yes we can, we just have to go deep enough.
***** ***** *****



Cobb and his team made the three-layers-dream plan when they were in the warehouse [real world].
Ariadne will make the design and architecture, creating a maze. She makes a miniature, and she teaches the "dreamers" how to make the maze.

When Cobb met Prof Miles [his Dad] to find a new Architect, Prof Miles asked if he's going to corrupt another of his brilliant student, and take her to enter his dream world. Cobb answers that the Architect would only teach the dreamers how to make the maze.
Ariadne wasn't suppose to enter the mission with them, but she insisted to go along because she's the only one in the team who knew about Cobb's problem and also seen Cobb's dream about Mal.

Then when Cobb asked about her progress, Ariadne took the meniature and tried to explain her plan, Cobb said "No no.. don't tell me the details. Only dreamers should know the details." Cobb worries that if he knows the maze, then Mal would know too, and she might ruin the whole mission.
***** ***** *****


Eames: Do you have a Chemist?
Cobb: No... Not yet.Eames: Alright, well there is a man here. Yusuf. He formulate his own versions of the compounds.
Cobb: When are you taking me there?
Eames: Once you lost your tail. Men at the bar.
Cobb: Cobol Engineering. The price on my head, was that dead or alive?
Eames: I don't remember. Let's see if they start shooting.
Cobb: Without interference I'll meet you downstairs in about say uh.. half an hour?
Eames: Back here?
Cobb: It's the last place they'd suspect.
Eames: Hmm Hmmm... Well...[walks toward the bar]
Eames: Fredy! Fredy Simmons? My God, it's you isn't it... [pause] No it isn't...

Eames: You mustn't be afraid to dream a little bigger, darling.

***** ***** *****



They agree to make the idea as a strong possitive emotion that would look like self-improvement. In this case, a possitive development on Fischer's relation with his father.
They plan to put the idea in the third layer. But before that, in each layers they will "direct" him to think the way they want him to think. This is where Eames's "forgery ability" needed.

They agree to make the idea as a strong possitive emotion that would look like self-improvement. In this case, a possitive development on Fischer's relation with his father.
They plan to put the idea in the third layer. But before that, in each layers they will "direct" him to think the way they want him to think. This is where Eames's "forgery ability" needed.

Cobb: I will split up my father's empire. Now this is obviously an idea that Robert Fischer will choose to reject - which is why we need to plant it deep in his subconscious. Subconscious is fueled by emotion, right? Not reason. We need a find a way to translate this into an emotional concept.

Arthur: How do you translate a business strategy into an emotion?

Cobb: Well, that's what we're here to figure out, right? Now Fischer's relationship with his father is stressed, to say the least...

Eames: Well, can we run with that? Suggest splitting up the empire as a "screw-you" to the old man?

Cobb: No, cause I think positive emotion trumps negative emotion every time. We all crave reconciliation - we're catharsis. We need Robert Fischer to have a positive emotional reaction to all this.

Eames: Alright, well try this. 'My father accepts that I want to create for myself, not follow in his footsteps'.

Cobb: That might work.

Arthur: Might? We're gonna need to do a little better than might.

Eames: Oh, thank you for your contribution, Arthur!

Arthur: Forgive me for wanting a little specificity.

[Eames appears confused at the word]

Arthur: Specificity?

***** ***** *****

-DREAM LEVELS

^ 1 Rainy City - The Van [Yusuf's dream]
Yusuf drank a lot of champagne in the “real world” on the plane, so when he goes to sleep he has to pee (hence the rainfall).

^ 2 Hotel - Room 528 [Arthur's dream]
When the van Yusuf is driving goes off the bridge and is flying through the air, Aurthur’s “body” is suspended in air, which is why gravity in the hotel level of the dream goes haywire – as the dreamer’s body is shifted and moved, it effects the physics of the dream he’s dreaming, since the mind (and inner-ear) is registering the change in gravity.

^ 3 Snow Fortress in the mountain - Hospital room [Eames' dream]
Fischer enters his own Projection in the safe.

^ 4 Mal's World where Mal hides Fischer [Cobb's dream]
Ariadne drops a line early on about the fact that the extractor team can bring elements of their own subconscious into the dream levels if they’re not careful, and since Cobb has spent time in Limbo and has a raging subconscious, his dream includes his memory of the city he and Mal built for themselves.
***** ***** *****





When they're going into the 3rd dream (Snow Fortress), Eames is the Dreamer, but they are entering Fischer's subconscious. :)

Ariadne: Wait, whose subconscious are we going into exactly?
Cobb: We're going into Fischer's. But I told him it was Browning's so he can be a part of our team.
Arthur: He's gonna help us break into his own subconscious.
Cobb: That's right.

They're in Fischer's subconscious mind, so it was Fischer's projection. The safe/vault is a manifestation of the things that Fischer kept inside him, it could be secrets or things that he believe or thinks to be true.

Cobb: Let's hope he likes what he finds in there.
Eames: It's a shame, I really want to know what is in that safe, I swear we had it this time.

We cannot be sure about Maurice Fischer's true emotion towards Robert Fischer Jr., but Cobb made Robert thinks that his father actually loved him and wanted him to find his own way, not to follow Maurice's footsteps
. 
The last thing that Maurice Fischer said to Robert in real world was "...disapointed...". 
Then he passed away.
There are no other explaination about Maurice's true emotion towards Robert Fischer. We can only assume that Maurice is a cold person who treats his son strictly to acomplish success in business world.

-THE INCEPTION

# In the 1st layer
Eames disguised as Peter Browning [Robert Fischer's godfather]. He told Fischer about the breakable-inheritance will that Maurice Fischer left for Robert Fischer.
Fischer: Destroy my whole inheritance? But why would he suggest such a thing?
Browning [Eames]: I just don't know. He loved you, Robert... in his own way.

## In the 2nd layer
Browning [Fischer's projection] appeared in the hotel room and mentioned the "idea" that Eames had planted in the 1st layer.
Browning: I'm sorry, Robert. This company has been my entire life, I just can't let you destroy it.
Fischer: I'm not gonna throw away my inheritance. Why would I?
Browning: I couldn't let you rise to your father's last taunt. The will, Robert. That "will", that's his last insult. A challenge for you to built something for yourself... by telling you you're not worthy for his accomplishments. But he's wrong... You can build a better one.
Cobb: [whispering to Robert Fischer] He's lying.

### In the 3rd layer
When Robert Fischer enters the hospital room alone, it was HIS projections.
Cobb: Let's hope he likes what he finds in there.
Eames: It's a shame, I really want to know what is in that safe, I swear we had it this time.


Robert Fischer Jr.: I know you are disappointed… I couldn’t be you.
Maurice Fischer: No... I was disappointed… you just try hard [to be me].
Since it was his own projection, it's becoming "his" idea. And it can grow. When Fischer and Browning [Eames] survived from the river [1st layer], Fischer already had that idea planted and growing in his mind.
Fischer: That "will" means that he wanted me to have my own way, not just to live for him. That's what I'm gonna do, Uncle Peter...


***** ***** *****

-THE PIN MILL

When Robert Fischer enters the vault in the third level dream, he finds the Pin-mill in the safe. The Pin-mill is something memorable for Robert Fischer, because it reminds him of the happy time he spent with his father when he was a kid.

Before Maurice Fischer passed away [while he was still sick and lying in the bed], there was a photo of them smiling together on the table beside the bed [Robert put it there without Maurice knowing]. In the photo he was holding the Pin-mill, while his father holds him from behind.
When Robert Fischer finds out that Maurice Fischer kept the Pin-mill in his safe, he feels that he actually meant a lot to his father.


***** ***** *****




Was Saito truly powerful enough to make one phone call and end Cobb’s problems or was that just Cobb in limbo projecting his subconscious wish to go home?
Saito is a powerful and wealthy man.
Rich powerful people bend laws all the time.
***** ***** *****

Eames: We need at least a good ten hours.
Saito: Sydney to Los Angeles. One of the longest flights in the world. He makes it every two months.
Cobb: He must be flying privately.
Saito: Not if there was unexpected maintenance with his plane…
Arthur: It would have to be a 747.
Cobb: Why is that?
Arthur: Because on a 747 the pilot is up top, and the first class cabin is in the nose, so no one would walk through. But you’d have to buy out the entire cabin. And the first class flight attendant.Saito: I bought the airline.
[Everybody turns and stares at him. Saito just shrugs]
Saito: It seemed neater.

They need to buy off the flight attendants too because they're included to help with the mission from the real world. If the flight attendant didn't know about that mission, they might panic seeing all the passengers there all in deep sleep and not waking up for 10 hours, things could get so wrong if that happens. :)

Just like in the beginning of movie on the train, they get help from a young Japanese boy to help with the warning song. We can assume the boy also help activating the dream machine when they enter their dream. But during the Inception mission, they don't need any warning from the real world, they'll automaticaly wake up when the sedative worn off.

The stewardess helps activating the dream machine, and also helping Cobb with the glass of water, the stewardess didn't give it to Fischer directly, she hands it to Cobb first.
Cobb pour the sedative in the water then hands it to Fischer, and gives a toast for Maurice Fischer, to "force" Fischer to drink.

Stewardess: Sir. (handing in a glass of water to Cobb)
Cobb: (Drops a sedative into the water and gives the glass to Fischer)Here you go.
Fischer: Thank you. (Trying to put the glass away)
Cobb: Hey, to your father. May he rest in peace, huh. (Moves his glass to Fischer to make a toast)
Fischer: (accepts the toast and drink the sedated water).

******************************

8. KICKS

******************************

KICK: a jolt feeling of FALLING that snaps you out of a dream.

Normaly a "kick" is enough, either in the level they're at, or from higher level. Like in the beginning of the movie. While Cobb and Arthur was in 2nd layer, Cobb shot Arthur, this makes Arthur awake in 1st Layer. Then Nash pushed Cobb to the bathtub which awaken Cobb from 2nd level.

In normal dreams they can wake up with a kick from higher level, or a kick from their own level, they can just kill themselves to wake up or going into the higher level.

But when they're using sedatives, the sedatives is too strong, they won't wake up when they receive a kick in real world. And if they die before the sedative runs out, their consciousness will go into Limbo.

Under the strong sedatives they need something more that just a kick from the higher level. They need to do the kick from their own level too. Both ways.

Yusuf: The compound that'll be used to share the dream created a very clear connection between dreamers, plus actually accelerating brain function.

Cobb: In other words, it gives us more time on each level. 

Yusuf: Brain function in the dream will be about twenty times normal. When you enter a dream within that dream the effect is compounded. It's three dreams, that's 10 hours, that's twenty...

Eames: I'm sorry, math is never my strong subject. How much time is that?

Cobb: It's a week the first level down. Six months the second level and the third level...

Ariadne: Is ten years. Who would wanna be stuck in a dream for ten years?

Yusuf: Depends on the dream.

Arthur: So once we've made the plants, how do we get out? I'm hoping you have something more elegant in mind than shooting me in the head.

Cobb: A kick.

Ariadne: What's a kick?

Eames: This, Ariadne, would be a kick. (Kicks Arthur's chair)

Cobb: It's a feeling of falling, you get the jolts, you awaken... snaps you out of the dream.

Arthur: Are we gonna feel a kick with this kind of sedation?

Yusuf: Oh, that's the counterpart. I've customized it to leave any ear function unimpaired. That way, however deep the sleep, the sleeper still feels falling. Or tipping.

Cobb: The trick is to synchronize a kick, that can penetrate all three levels.

Arthur: We can use a musical content to synchronize the different kicks.

***** ***** *****





Real world: 10 hours
1st layer: 10x 20 = 200 hours = 8 days 7 hours (about a week)
2nd layer: 10 x 20 x 20 = 4,000 hours = 166,67 days (almost six months)
3rd layer: 4,000 x 20 = 80,000 hours = 3,333.33 days = 111,11 months = 9,26 years (almost 10 years)
***** ***** *****





To return to reality, they need to get back layer by layer, one must stay awake in each level [Dreamer stays]. They need an "alarm" [the music: Non, Je ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf] to synchronize time of the 'kicks'. In the movie we can see the steps, first Yusuf puts the headphones on Arthur and plays the music. Arthur hears the music in 2nd layer, then he puts the headphones on Eames, in the 3rd layer Eames hears the music.


When Cobb and his team reached the 3rd level, Mal shot Fischer, and Fischer get lost in Limbo, which is a deeper dream [it's a Limbo for Fischer].
Limbo is a deeper layer, since Fischer dies in the 3rd, he's sent deeper into 4th layer (Limbo). Anyway, all who's sent into Limbo would end up in the same Limbo because they're sharing dreams together.
Since Robert Fischer died in the 3rd layer, when he die he's sent into Limbo, into the deeper level (4th layer). Ariadne had the idea to go deeper to get Robert Fischer.


When Cobb and Ariadne went to the 4th layer they're not in "limbo state", that's why they didn't forget things in the Limbo. They went to the Limbo to get Robert Fischer through Cobb's dream, they connect themselves to the Dream machine. They didn't lost tracks of reality and dreams at that time.

Noted, even though they're going into Fischer's Limbo, they are not loosing tracks of reality, because for them it's not a "limbo", they are not dead, and they are not lost.

[Kinda hard to explain this, but I hope you get it]
For instance:

A and B are placed in the middle of a forest at during eclipse night, but A has a torch/flashlight [alive], and a map + compass [not lost]; in the other hand, B doesn't have anything, doesn't know where he is and doesn't know what to do. The same "place", different "conditions".

Cobb: But there's no use in reviving him... his mind's already trapped down there. It's all over.
Eames: So that's it? Then we failed?
Cobb: We're done. I'm sorry.
Eames: Well, it's not me who's gonna get back to my family, is it?
It's a shame, I really want to know what's gonna happen in there. I swear we have this one...
Cobb: Let's set the charges.
Ariadne: No, there's still another way. We just have to follow Fischer down there.
Cobb: We don't have time.
Ariadne: No, but there will be enough time down there. And we will find him.
Okay, as soon as Arthur's music kicks in just use the defibrillator to revive him. We can give him his own kick down bellow.
Look, you get him in there. As soon as the music ends, you blow up the hospital. And we all ride the kick back up the layers.
Eames: That worth a shot. And Saito can hold the guards out while I set the charges.
Cobb: Saito will never make it, will he?
(Eames shooked his head)

Since Cobb has spent time in Limbo and has a raging subconscious, his dream includes his memory of the city he and Mal built for themselves.
And, when they're in the warehouse on the 1st layer [while Cobb told them that they'll go into Limbo if they die in a sedated dreams], Arthur said since they shared a dream together, if they go to Limbo, it would be a projection of what's left from a subconcious mind of the people in that dream, and in this case, it's Cobb's Limbo [because he was in a Limbo before]. This explains why Fischer's Limbo is the same as Cobb and Mal's.

Ariadne: Limbo?
Arthur: Unconstructed dream space.
Ariadne: What the hell is down there?
Arthur: Just raw infinite subconscious. Nothing is down there. Except for whatever might have been left behind by anyone sharing the dream who has been trapped there before. Which in our case, is just you (Cobb).
***** ***** *****




After Ariadne found Fischer, she waited first until she sees the lighting in the sky [which indicates Eames is giving an electric jolt to Fischer as the kick from higher level]. Then she pushes Fischer, making him fall, this is the kick from 4th level.

After that, Ariadne didn't just jump right away. She jumps when the buildings started to crushing down [this means the base under the hospital room in 3rd level is being blown apart]. So she get her kick from free fall, and the kick from the 3rd level too as the floor is falling down.

Cobb: That's the kick, Ariadne! You have to go now!
Ariadne: Don't lose yourself! Find Saito and bring him back!
***** ***** *****





This implies to the other levels too. At 3rd level the room falls down because the lower base is blown by explosives. At 2nd, Arthur uses the explotion energy to urge the elevator falling down. At 1st the van hits the river.

Real World
[On the plane]
wait until sedatives runs out

Level 1 - Yusuf's dream -
Set headphones + music on Arthur
The Van hits the bridge's fence [missed], then Van hits the river

Level 2 - Arthur's dream -
Set headphones + music on Eames
Sets explossive in the elevator trail, above the elevator room, the explotion energy pushes the elevator down

Level 3 - Eames' dream -
Eames gives electric jolt to Fischer
Eames xplodes the base ground

Level 4 - Cobb's dream -
Ariadne pushes Fischer from the building
Ariadne drops herself from the building

The Van that falls into the river has other use than just a kick. It makes Fischer thinks that the kidnapers are drowning, then he and his uncle Brownings swim to the surface. Browning said sorry for wanting to prevent Fischer from finding the inherit [and to stop Fischer from being himself and break apart the company].




At 1st layer, they just have to wait until the sedatives runs out, which is before the plane landed.
How they can stay in 1st layer without being attacked, it's because Fischer thought he's actually back in reality & he's not feeling threatened, also he got relieved after getting the secret of his father's feeling towards him, this has "switched off" the defense system in his mind.
In the earlier scene, Fischer subconscious defense started to attack and shooting at them after Fischer realizes he's been kidnaped in the taxi. Fischer's subconscious defence would work whenever Fischer feels threatened or realizing that someone else is messing with his mind.

Projections would be looking and attack the Dramer whenever The Mark's mind feels that someone else messing with his/her mind or realizing the strangeness of the dream. Projections also got influenced by emotions (feelings).
Ariadne: I guess I thought the dream-space would be all about the visual, but it's more about the feeling.

During training, Arthur acts as the Dreamer and Architect, and they're in Ariadne's subconscious mind (Mark). Ariadne says her subconscious is polite because her projection isn't attacking Arthur. Arthur says it'll turn ugly as he starts messing with the dream world such as creating paradox stair.

Ariadne: My subconscious seems polite enough.

Arthur: Well wait, it'll turn ugly. No one wants to feel someone else messing around their mind. 

Ariadne: What's happening?

Arthur: Cobb's drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream. Which is making the subconscious looking for the dreamer... for me...

Maybe you will ask, if they don't need to go through higher levels from Limbo to Real World, how come Fischer wakes up at the 3rd level?
For Fischer, he needs the kicks [falling and electric jolt] to wake him at the 3rd level. If he only get a kick in Limbo at that moment, he won't wake up anywhere [higher dream nor real world]. Even if he dies in the Limbo at that time, he won't wake up, because he is still under a strong sedative, the time hasn't run out yet.

******************************

9. GETTING BACK TO REALITY

******************************

How Cobb & Saito were able to come back? Simple, with the pistol.
They shot themselves in time when the sedative already runs out, when Cobb & Saito wakes up on the plane, Fischer and the other team are already awake.



How do we know the sedatives already runs out?
Fischer already sits firmly, Eames is wiping face with hot towel, Arthur & Ariadne [secretly] looking at him as if they’re wondering if Cobb would ever wake up.

When Cobb wakes up, he looked like trying to regain his senses, his expression shows that he's thinking and wondering if he's realy awake.


Saito wakes up in kinda awkward position and has a hard-to-explain expression on his face. Old soul that finally returns to youthly body. Then he honor his word, and make the call to drop the charges on Cobb.



One way to know you're in a dream is that you couldn't remember how you get there.
When Cobb wakes up in the plane, he's back to where he was, he's not waking up in some unknown place with no explanation of how he got there.

Cobb: [from trailer] Dreams feel real while we're in them. It's only when we wake up that we realize something was actually strange.



Cobb doesn't wear a Wedding Ring as he does in dreams.
And as Cobb walks through the immigration check and drags his luggage out, his worried and relieved expression is really shown.

******************************

10. LIMBO

****************************** 

The danger in Limbo is people lost sight of reality, they won't remember that they're dreaming. If that continues for a long long time and they fail to regain their senses of which is reality or dream, their brain would enter a coma state.

Limbo is an unconstructed dream space, unless one of the dreamers has been there — in this case, someone has: Cobb. And while they're in limbo, their brain can be destroyed. Like, they would be in a coma, or they could just leave their mind behind.

Eames: [talking to Cobb] So now we're trapped in Fischer's mind battling his own private army... and if we get killed, we'll be lost in limbo till our brains turn to scrambled egg, hmm?

*****



Cobb didn't remember when he first enter the Limbo. He was delirious, not talking clear and straight forward. He asks for Saito because of his determination to find Saito, go home, and see his kids.
As they see the spinning totem (the Top), they're repeating the dialogues they used to say to each other and starting to remember.

Saito: So have you come to kill me? I've been waiting for someone to come for me...
Cobb: Someone from a half remembered dream...
Saito: Cobb? Impossible - He and I were young men together, now I'm an old man.
Cobb: Filled with regret...
Saito: Waiting to die alone...
Cobb: I've come back to remind you of something... something you once knew...
[Sees the top spinning without end]
Cobb: that this world isn't real...
Saito: To convince me to honor the arrangement.
Cobb: To take a leap of faith yes. Come back, and we'll be young men together again. Come back to me...
[Saito reaches for the gun]
Cobb: Come back...
*****




There are a few ways to get lost in Limbo. Building the dream from memory, going too deep, or die in a dream while using a strong sedative.

- Cobb: Because building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp from what's real and what is a dream.
- Cobb: I kept pushing things. I wanted to go deeper and deeper. I wanted to go further. I just didn't understand the concepts that hours could turn into years down there. That we could get trapped so deep. That when we... when wind up on the shore of our subconscious we lost sight of what was real.
- Eames: When we die in a dream, we wake up.
Yusuf: Not from this. We're too heavily sedated to wake up that way.
Eames: Right, so what happens when we die?
Cobb: We drop in a limbo.
*****




Saito looked much older because he died earlier than Cobb, so he has spent longer time there. Remember, the deeper the dream the longer the time is. Time runs faster than the time in real world, it has longer time than the higher levels.

Earlier in the 3rd layer, after Fischer been shot by Mal, Cobb asked Eames about Saito's condition.

Cobb: Saito will never make it, will he?
Eames: [shooked his head]

Before Mal stabbed Cobb and Ariadne shot Mal, Cobb felt that at that moment saito must have been dead and sent into the Limbo too.
Ariadne: Cobb, we need to get Fischer.
Mal: You can't have him.
Cobb: If I stay here, will you let him go?
Ariadne: What are you talking about?
Mal: Fischer's on the porch.
Cobb: Go check if he's alive, Ariadne.
Ariadne: Cobb, you can't do this.
Cobb: Go check if he's alive, right now! Do it.
Ariadne: He's here and it's time but you have to come now!
Cobb: Take Fischer with you, alright?
Ariadne: You can't stay here to be with her!
Cobb: I'm not. Saito's dead by now, that means he's down here somewhere. That means I have to find him.

Then the dream started to collapse, Cobb stayed in the 4th Layer, he wanted to enter the Limbo to search for Saito, because he needed Saito to take off the charges so he could go back to his kids in The States. Cobb missed the kicks, didn't wake up in the 1st layer, so he died drowning in the Van, and also sent to Limbo.
Since Cobb died, he lost sight of what's real and not real. That's why he looked confused and "dreamy" when Saito's guards (Saito's projections) took him to the Japanese Fortress to meet Saito.
*****

LIMBO: unconstructed dream space – a place of raw (and random) subconscious impulse.

Limbo is not tied with levels, people might get lost into it from any levels. No standard about what level [or how deep] a Limbo is. Either died on 1st, 2nd, or 3rd level, goes to the same Limbo. No need to go through levels from Limbo, when Cobb & Mal escaped the Limbo, they only suicide once. No kicks needed!

# No sedatives:
Die in normal dreams -> awake from dream
Die in Limbo -> awake from dream
# Sedated:
Die in sedated-dreams [cannot gain conscious under strong sedatives]
-> stuck in a Limbo
Die in Limbo [after the sedatives runs out] -> awake from dream


Eames: Now, let's put him out of his misery. (Pointing a gun on Saito)
Cobb: No, no! Don't do that!
Eames: What's the matter, Cobb?
Cobb: Don't do that.
Eames: He's in agony, I'm waking him up.
Cobb: No, it won't wake him up.
Eames: What do you mean, it won't wake him up?
Cobb: It won't wake him up.
Eames: When we die in a dream, we wake up.
Yusuf: Not from this. We're too heavily sedated to wake up that way.
Eames: Right, so what happens when we die?
Cobb: We drop in a limbo.
Arthur: Are you serious?
Ariadne: Limbo?
Arthur: Unconstructed dream space.
Ariadne: What the hell is down there?
Arthur: Just raw infinite subconscious. Nothing is down there. Except for whatever might have been left behind by anyone sharing the dream who has been trapped there before. Which in our case, is just you (Cobb).
Ariadne: How long can we be stuck there?
Yusuf: I can't even think about trying to escape until the sedation is....
Eames: How long, Yusuf?
Yusuf: Decades, it could be infinite. I don't know. Ask him (Cobb), he's the one who's been there.

******************************

11. PROJECTIONS

****************************** 

Is there something up with that IMMIGRATION AGENT or is he just an immigration agent? The immigration guy is just a guy. If he’s staring at Cobb, it’s because his job is to look people over and scrutinize them. Would you want immigration letting people through without face-to-face scrutiny?

They people in the AIRPORT are NOT Projections. The "people" who are looking at him are his team mates, security and imigration person, and Fischer too of course.

Members of the team acknowledge one another, but they don't talk to each other coz it'd look suspicious for Fischer if everyone in the first class cabin just happened to know each other.
***** ***** *****




Projections would only "attack" a Dreamer when a Dreamer tries to INVADE a "Mark's mind". It's a defense system trying to locate who is trying to invade/intervere in the Mark's mind.
If Cobb is dreaming, which makes him as the Dreamer, he wouln't have his own Projections looking/attacking himself.

Dreams feel real to us when we’re dreaming and part of the reason for that is our mind’s ability to construct a faux real-world setting for us to interact with in dreams. Often, that dream is something like a city or any populated area which has other people walking around it. in Inception, those people that the unknowing mark populates the dream world with are known as “projections.”

Projections would be looking and attack the Dramer whenever The Mark's mind feels that someone else messing with his/her mind or realizing the strangeness of the dream. Projections also got influenced by emotions (feelings).
Ariadne: I guess I thought the dream-space would be all about the visual, but it's more about the feeling.

During training, Arthur acts as the Dreamer and Architect, and they're in Ariadne's subconscious mind (Mark). Ariadne says her subconscious is polite because her projection isn't attacking Arthur. Arthur says it'll turn ugly as he starts messing with the dream world such as creating paradox stair.

Ariadne: My subconscious seems polite enough.

Arthur: Well wait, it'll turn ugly. No one wants to feel someone else messing around their mind. 

The Mark's emotions would determine the projection's behaviour. Cobb's projection stares at Ariadne when she messing up in the dream.
Ariadne: Why are they all looking at me?
Cobb: Cause my subconscious feels that someone else is creating this world. The more you change things, the quicker the projections start to converge them.
Ariadne: Converge?
Cobb: It sense the foreign nature of the dreamer. They attack like white blood cells fighting an infection.
Ariadne: Are they going to attack us?
Cobb: No. Just you.
[Ariadne creates a bridge from nowhere in the middle of the road]
Cobb: This is great but I'm telling you, if you keep changing things like this...

Cobb's subconscious mind feels that someone is messing with his mind so his projections starting to look for the dreamer. This cannot be controlled by him, because it's his subconscious.
Ariadne: Jesus... You mind telling your subconscious to take it easy?
Cobb: It's my subconscious. Remember, I can't control it.

Then Cobb realizes that Ariadne is building the dream based on the real world, from her memory. Cobb warns her not to do that, that'll make people get lost easier because they wouldn't be able to tell which is a dream or reality.
Cobb: I know this bridge. This place is real, isn't it?
Ariadne: Yeah, I cross it everyday to get to the college.
Cobb: Never recreate places from your memory. Always imagine new places!
Ariadne: Well, you gotta draft from stuff you know, right?
Cobb: Only use details. A street lamp or a phone booth. Never entire areas.
Ariadne: Why not?
Cobb: Because building a dream from your memory is the easiest way to lose your grasp from what's real and what is a dream.
Ariadne: Is that what happened to you?
Cobb: Listen to me. This has nothing to do with me, understand?
[The crowd stops moving and they're standing and looking at Ariadne]
Ariadne: Is that why you need me to build your dreams?
[Cobb feels upset and his projections start grabbing roughly at Ariadne] 
Cobb: Get off her. Back up. Back up!!
Ariadne: Cobb!



The same thing happens with Fischer, when he feels the strangeness of the dream or he feels someone else is creating the dream world or his emotion is 'not good his projection will give similar reactions.

Ariadne: What's happening?

Arthur: Cobb's drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream. Which is making the subconscious looking for the dreamer... for me...

Projections are not part of the mark’s mind – they're manifestations of the mark’s vision of reality. If a mark has been trained to defend themselves against extractors, they have a part of their subconscious which is always on guard against mind-crime in the form of militarized security which attack mind invaders.


Example:
1. Cobb and Ariadne in Ariadne's dream. Ariadne changes the surroundings, creating paradox. Projections started to "attack" her cos Cobb's subconcious mind [as the Mark/Subject] felt that someone is messing with his mind.







 
2. Arthur's dream - hotel. When Cobb approach to Fisher and tells him that they’re in a dream, Fischer started to become aware, the Projections started to look around, looking for the Dreamer who invaded his mind. Arthur and Ariadne were sitting in other part of the hotel when the people around them started to look at them [Arthur].

Cobb: There's one thing you should know about me. I specialize in a very specific type of security, subconscious security.
Fischer: You're talking about Dreams?

Arthur: There goes Mr. Charles...

Ariadne: Who or what is Mr. Charles?

Arthur: It's a gambit designed to turn Fischer againsts his own subconscious.

Ariadne: Why don't you approve?

Arthur: Because it involves telling The Mark that he's dreaming which involves attracting a lot of attention to us.

Ariadne: Have you told Cobb not to do that?

Arthur: It's nice thing to know how much time Cobb spends to meant things he says to never do.

Ariadne: What's happening?

Arthur: Cobb's drawing Fischer's attention to the strangeness of the dream. Which is making the subconscious looking for the dreamer... for me...

Arthur: Quick, give me a kiss!

[She kisses him and then looks around]

Ariadne: They're still looking at us.
Arthur: Yeah, it's worth a shot.

******************************

12. PROF. MILES  [Cobb's Dad]

****************************** 

Why is Prof. Miles picking Cobb up at the airport in The United States?
Isn't he supposed to be in Paris, teaching at some university/school?
When Cobb called his kids, he said he'll send gifts through the grandfather. And when Cobb visits Prof. Miles in the school, he drops off the presents & asks him to give them to the kids when he got a chance to go back, means his Dad flies to the States once in a while.


The Grandmother isn't picking Cobb up at the airport, because the kids are not big enough to be left alone at home without adult supervision. No exact reason why the grandmother not showing up as soon as Cobb arrived, probably because she was so bitter & once believed that Cobb would never return.
***** ***** *****

Arthur: Why are we going to Paris?

Cobb: We need a new Architect.

***** ***** *****

Cobb: You never did like your office, did you?
Prof. Miles: No space to think in that room, Cobbot.

Prof. Miles: Is it safe for you to be here?

Cobb: The extradiction between Europe and The United States is a bureaucracy nightmare, you know?

Prof. Miles: I never taught you to be a thief.

Cobb: You taught me to navigate people's minds. But after what happened, there are a whole lot of legitimate ways for me to use that skill.

Prof. Miles: What are you doing Here, Dom?

Cobb: I think I found a way home. It's a job for some very VERY powerfull people... People who I believe could fix my charges permanently. But I need your help.

Prof. Miles: You're here to corrupt one of my brightest invest.

Cobb: What I'm offering, you have to let them decide for themself.

Prof. Miles: Money?

Cobb: Not just money. You remember... It's a chance to built a cathedral, entire city, things that never existed, things that couldn't exist in the real world.

Prof. Miles: So you want me to let someone else... follow you into your fantasy?

Cobb: They don't actually come into the dream. They just design the levels and teach them to the dreamers. That's all.

Prof. Miles: Design it yourself.

Cobb: Mal won't let me.

Prof. Miles: Come back to reality, Dom... Please...

Cobb: Reality... Those kids... your grand children... They are waiting for their father to come back home. That's their reality. And this job, this LAST job, that's how I get there. I would not be standing here if I knew any other ways. I need an Architect who is as good as I was.

Prof. Miles: I've got somebody better.

******************************

13. Meaning behind Characters Name [interesting] (^_^)
******************************

*Mal ‘The Shade’ [Marion Cotillard]: bad, badness
*Eames ‘The Forger’ [Tom Hardy]: associated with architects/industrial designers
*Dominic Cobb ‘The Extractor’ [Leonardo DiCaprio]: of our Lord, belonging to the God
*Arthur ‘The Point Man’ [Joseph Gorden-Levitt]: King Arthur, bear, stone
*Yusuf ‘The Chemist’ [Dileep Rao]: the prophet
*Ariadne ‘The Architect’ [Ellen Page]: Greek mythology - Ariadne is the daughter of King Minos of Crete. She helped Theseus find the way out of Minotaur's labyrinth by giving him a sword and a ball of red fleece thread that she was spinning.

******************************

14. THE ROLES

******************************

The Extractor - The extractor is a master con man, a person who knows how to manipulate a dreaming mark into revealing their deepest mental secrets. At heart, an extractor is a classic con man – he creates a false set of circumstances that manipulate the mark into revealing his secrets. Cobb (Leo DiCaprio) uses the same type of con man repertoire as George Clooney in Oceans 11 – only Cobb knows how to literally do his work on a subconscious level. Fancy premise aside though, the extractor (as I said) is basically your classic con man.












The Point Man - Arthur (Joseph Gordon Levitt) has the duty to collect all the information and check the background of the Mark. He has the responsibility to gather all the details to make sure the plan goes well.

The Dreamer - The architect and the dreamer are not always the same person. The architect designs the dream world/maze and can then teach that maze to a separate dreamer. The dreamer is the person whose mind actually houses the dream and it is the dreamer’s mind that the subject/mark is ultimately brought into in order to to be conned by the extractor. The dreamer allows the mark to fill their mind with the mark’s subconscious, and unless the dreamer maintains the stability of the dream, the mark’s subconscious will realize it’s been invaded by foreign mind(s) and will try to locate and eliminate the dreamer to free itself.
When you start getting into the whole dream within a dream aspect of the movie, identifying the dreamer can be tricky – this is especially true when Cobb and his team start running their con on Fischer using three separate levels of dreaming. Once the tri-level dream sequence starts, one good way to keep track of the dreamers is by noticing which team member stays awake and doesn’t follow the team down to the next level of dreaming – a dreamer can’t enter a lower dream state, otherwise their level of the dream would end.

The Architect - The architect is the designer of the dream constructs into which an extractor brings a “mark.” Think of an architect as a video game designer, except in this case they create the “levels” within a dream, complete with all the aesthetic and tactile details. The mark (also known as “the subject”) is brought into that dream construct and fills it with details from their own subconscious and memories, which convince the mark that the dream the architect built is real – or at the very least, is the mark’s own dream.
The architect can manipulate real world architecture and physics in order to create paradoxes like an endless staircase, which makes the dream world function as a sort of maze. The dream is constructed as a maze so that:

A) The mark doesn’t reach the edge of the maze, realizing that they are in an imaginary place.

B) So the mark runs the maze, leading the extractor toward “the cheese” – i.e., mental secrets the mark is protecting.
The Forger - As in “forgery,” Eames (Tom Hardy) is a master of imitating people’s handwriting, mannerisms – and in the dream world, even their very appearance. This is key to Cobb’s plan: on dream level 1 (the rainy city) Eames impersonates Peter Browning (Tom Berenger), Robert Fischer’s closest advisor.
Using Browning’s image, Eames subtly suggests things to Fischer that fools Fischer into creating his own subconscious version of Browning (seen in dream level 2, the hotel). The version of Browning Fischer conjures in his subconscious motivates him to run deeper into Cobb’s maze (dream level 3, the snow fortress) in order to find “the cheese” – i.e., the inception of the idea Saito wanted Cobb to plant. Basically, the Forger fools Fischer into using his own subconscious projections against himself.

The Tourist - As Saito (Ken Watanabe) wanted to know for sure whether the mission is a success or not, he makes the team takes him to join in the mission too.

The Chemist - Yusuf (Dileep Rao) is a chemist who supplies the powerful sedative that puts Fischer and Cobb's gang into the dream state.

When they dream normally, they can use a drug to share the dream with other people. They can enter another person's dream. It's just the dream-sharing drug, so if they die in that dream, they just wake up — no problem. It's frightening for a second, but up they come. The problem arises when they want to go deeper. To go deeper, they have to use a much stronger version of the drug, one thatYusuf customizes, that is combined with a very powerful sedative. It's like weights to keep people under when they are scuba diving. But in this situation, if they die in the dream, they go deeper and deeper until they hit limbo.

Limbo is unconstructed dream space, unless one of the dreamers has been there — in this case, someone has: Cobb. And while you're in limbo, their brain can be destroyed. Like, they would be in a coma, or they could just leave their mind behind.

The Mark - The mark (Cillian Murphy) is the person who the extractor and his team are trying to con. The mark is brought into the mind of the dreamer, and since the mark is unaware that he/she is dreaming, they perceive the dreamer’s world as real while simultaneously making it feel real to themselves by filling it with details and secrets from their own subconscious. The extractor uses those details and various mental prompts to steer the mark through the dream world maze, towards the mental secrets the extractor wants to steal.

As stated, the mark thinks he is still awake, perceives the dream world as real and reinforces that notion by “projecting” his conscious view of the world onto the dream – this is why projection people populate the dream cities, etc. Because of the extractor’s manipulations, the mark goes along with the faux reality of dream, ultimately reaching the point where they either realize it’s a dream, or open their mind and reveal their secrets.
Projections - Dreams feel real to us when we’re dreaming and part of the reason for that is our mind’s ability to construct a faux real-world setting for us to interact with in dreams. Often, that dream is something like a city or any populated area which has other people walking around it. in Inception, those people that the unknowing mark populates the dream world with are known as “projections.”
As is explained in the film, projections are not part of the mark’s mind – they are manifestations of the mark’s vision of reality. If a mark has been trained to defend themselves against extractors, they have a part of their subconscious which is always on guard against mind-crime in the form of militarized security which attack mind invaders. In Cobb’s case, Mal (“the shade”) is a projection based on his need to remember his dead wife. Mal wanted Cobb back in limbo – his own subconscious trying to pull him back to a place where he could “be with her.”
Mal (and her Shadow) - Mal (Marion Cotillard) is the character who acts as a vessel for all the more complex notions and questions about reality the film raises. Mal not only thought but felt that the world she and Cobb had built in limbo was real – it fed her emotionally and made her happy. When Cobb planted the idea that “Your world is not real” in her mind, he only meant for it to wake her from limbo. Instead, what he actually did by allowing that idea to take root in her mind was to destroy that sense of fulfillment and connection she once had – and once it was destroyed, it couldn’t be repaired.
Even with her husband and children all back together, Mal couldn’t access that emotional reality that comes with the bond of love and connection to our love ones. Because of inception, Mal couldn’t value love or connection the same way because a fake reality only offered fake connections and emotions – only she and Cobb and their love was real to her anymore. She needed to keep trying to reach some higher state where the nagging doubt would be cured and she could be happy again. And so, thinking Cobb lost in a faux reality, she arranged the hotel suicide and murder implication in order to force Cobb to follow her. The idea Cobb implanted in her led her to her death (seemingly), and the guilt of that act led Cobb to create a shadow of her in his subconscious.

******************************

15. The Dream Machine

******************************

 

 

 

******************************

16. MISCELANOUS

-TRAILERS

***** ***** *****
***** ***** *****

***** ***** *****
***** ***** *****

***** ***** *****
***** ***** *****

-INCEPTION Soundtrack

Hans Zimmer
[don't forget to buy the original CD when it's in the store] (^_^)
1. Half Remembered Dream
2. We Built Our Own World
3. Dream Is Collapsing
4. Radical Notion
5. Old Souls
6. 528491
7. Mombasa
8. One Simple Idea
9. Dream Within A Dream
10. Waiting For A Train
11. Paradox
12. Time
http://megashareslink.com/music/hans-zimmer-inception-music-from-the-motion-picture-ost-2010-doh.xhtml
******************************
Non, Je ne Regrette Rien by Edith Piaf
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M5gpBncR8zI&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFRuLFR91e4&feature=related
******************************






-Posters