Truth & Consequences: Inception movie review

The sci-fi tale Inception boldly explores the concept of reality and the results of rejecting it
Megan Basham
posted July 19, 2010

Christopher Nolan is a filmmaker interested in truth, particularly how it diverges from perception. The theme has played a part in every movie he's made, including Memento, Insomnia, and The Prestige. Even his Batman films delve into the issue. But none of his previous works have been as boldly philosophical in their exploration of truth as his latest, Inception. Through a dazzlingly original sci-fi tale it, like Pilate, asks, what is truth? Can we create it, as many in our postmodern age insist we can? Is what we believe the same as what is true? And what is the source of our ideas, both true and false?

The movie opens to an unspecific time in the future. Cars haven't changed, clothes haven't changed, even cell phones haven't changed. But one important thing has—the government has created a technology that allows people to invade each other's subconscious via their dreams and uncover their innermost secrets. If the invader does it skillfully enough, the dreamer will never know he was there. They call the process extraction. the rest image

Sound like some meaty spiritual themes to chew on? Without a doubt, they are. Even better, the PG-13 Inception avoids anything beyond mild violence and a few profanities, giving parents with sci-fi-loving teens little reason not to see it together. After all, smart, gripping thrillers that make the case that there is absolute truth and that death awaits those who settle for anything less usually only exist in our dreams.