Inception review

Inception How do you plant an idea in someone’s head so subtly that they think it’s their own? This is what Dom Cobb (Leonardo Di Caprio) is asked to figure out in the brainy action movie “Inception” [12A]. Much depends on the success of the operation, so Cobb swiftly assembles a crack team to help him in the task of altering the sub-conscious of one Robert Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the soon-to-be-heir to an energy empire. The cast of “Inception” bristles with Academy Award nominees and winners, and the script interweaves cultural allusions with references to psychology, philosophy, morality, dream theory, architecture and physics, the whole served up with oodles of visual effects: fun for those who like challenging entertainment, and for those who are just along for the ride. For the musically inclined there is the added attraction of a clever score by Hans Zimmer which contracts and expands a recurring snippet of Edith Piaf’s “Je ne regrette rien”. This song has associations for me from childhood, and therefore adds a ‘layer’ (in the film’s jargon) of personal links to the dream-level proceedings of the movie. As it throw its net pretty wide, however, this film might stir up associations in many viewers. Writer and director Christopher Nolan himself benefited from a coincidence, when he cast French actress Marion Cotillard as Cobb’s wife, Mal. Cotillard had won an Oscar for portraying Edith Piaf in the biopic “La vie en rose” (2007), and her presence here puts an extra spin on the use of song. Nolan is known for the amnesia whodunnit “Memento” (2000) and for contributing to the Batman series with “Batman Begins” (2005) and “The Dark Knight” (2008). “Inception” is an original script (i.e. not an adaptation) which showcases his inventiveness while, thankfully, steering clear of the bleakness at the core of “Knight”. In fact what I like best about “Inception” is the cheerful simplicity at its core. For all the bandying of lofty words and concepts, the team’s way out of dream zones is termed a ‘kick’, in the refreshingly material sense. For all the cool, dimension-bending visuals and ‘gravity shifts’, it turns out that planting an idea in someone’s head involves disguising the idea as an emotion – a positive emotion, no less, a warm and fuzzy one. Even better, for all the abstract talk of origins and creation (‘inception’ means ‘a beginning’), it turns out that the surest way into Fischer’s mind is through his basic identity as his father’s son. The depths and farthest shores of the human mind are not under attack in this film. It has no quarrel with a religious view that we are embedded in God’s infinite wisdom and held in the inescapable framework of His creation – not least in the outworking of His will for us in relationships and families. Intentionally or not, this is the happy truth “Inception” pays homage to most. There are some who contend the film plays games - you know, clever mind games - with the viewer right up to the closing credits. To which I say: Relax! Get thee to your friend’s HD widescreen when this comes out on DVD, and break out the popcorn. In the end, note and understand the Latin roots of Cobb’s first name and that of his wife. If you must, argue over the final shot of a finely crafted spinning top.