Sofia Irwin - The Journey Inward and Exploring the Subconsciousness

 THE JOURNEY INWARD


The movie Inception has to be one of the best movies in existence. I mean, it has action, psychological thriller, puzzles, existential crises, and of course Leonardo DiCaprio. It depicts a team of spies who travel in disguise and trick foreign adversaries into spilling their deepest, darkest secrets. The best part? It all happens inside their minds. They get them while they’re asleep and infiltrate their dreams—raw, unfiltered information left unprotected by an unconscious brain. Here’s the challenge: If they die in the dream world, then they die in the real world. This dangerous and secretive work has kept the protagonist, Cobb, away from his children for a long time and he accepts one last mission before giving it up.


One stark difference that stands out from the beginning is that while oftentimes heroes are depicted as venturing OUT into the unknown, Cobb must venture INWARD and learn about the inner workings of the consciousness if he wants to survive.


He must assemble a team for this heist. It’s his biggest mission yet, and he needs experts in his corner. This time is different than anything before because the enemy knows they are coming and has started to train his mind so that his dreams are protected and secrets are locked away. They have to not only enter his dream, but create a dream within that dream that would be too far into his subconscious for his defenses to notice. The deeper they go, the greater risk there is. In the darkest moment in the movie, Cobb is faced with his own deepest secret: guilt and self-blame because he believed he was the one responsible for his wife’s suicide years ago. She died because she couldn’t differentiate between the real world and dreams and it drove her mad. Cobb has to face his fears and move on in order to escape the dream. 


Finally, he and his team all make it out (after some close calls and several chase-scenes) and he is reunited with his kids. He definitely has some trauma after years of travelling through dreams and then losing his wife because of it. In the last few seconds of the movie, he is seen spinning a top—his personal test to tell if he was in the real world or not. The screen blacks out before the question is resolved. 


This is a movie that will really mess with your mind if you let it. While maybe not the most moral hero, he does have some heroic qualities and go on a very meaningful journey. Although the movie ends on a cliffhanger, the plot itself is well-resolved. 


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