Now, I'm sure many of you realized that 'Inception' is about religion, but I haven't noticed too many people talking about it so I will...

You're waiting for a train. Well, you're dying. A train that will take you far away. You know where you hope this train will take you. You want to go to heaven. But you can't be sure. But it doesn't matter - because we'll be together. Faith.

'Inception' is not about whether or not your world is real. None of Nolan's film are actually about that. 'Memento' doesn't say that you don't know if your memories are truth; it says that you lie to yourself to feel better. 'The Prestige' uses ignorance to show how feuds are one-sided and lack perspective. And 'Inception' doesn't say that the world around you is a lie. That has no real connection to us. It's really about how the world is a fight between faith, or believing, versus the unobtainable truth.

Dreams feel real while we're in them. We know what we know because what we know is what we believe. Mal 'knows' that she's in a dream because she believes she's in a dream. And these beliefs are unchallengeable. Nothing Cobb does can make her change her mind and realize the truth. Just like how, despite the amount of evidence against almost every religion in the world, people still believe. Mal tries to justify her belief without any proof, while proof mounts AGAINST her case. Nothing can change her mind. Faith is a dangerous, undebatable thing.

But Nolan also points out the good in faith, which I think is the point and center of the entire film. The truth sucks. And Cobb realizes this. He's constantly torturing himself with the possibility that everything around him is a lie, which is why he's constantly spinning his top. But that's horrible. And he realizes this. His projection of Mal (Cobb's subconscious) is constantly ordering him to ignore reality and embrace faith. You keep telling yourself what you know. But what do you believe? And faith, as dangerous as it is, can make life better. The 'Waiting for a Train' quote represents our fear of the unknown. When we die, what will happen? We don't want to stress over the possibility that when we die we experience nothingness in a wooden box of eternity. We want to go to a better place, far from here, where we'll meet up with everyone we've lost. We want a heaven. Heaven is the train we hope to take, that we believe we'll take, because that makes death a little less terrifying. 'Waiting for a Train' is Nolan's analogy for heaven.

Now, I'm not discussing whether the end of the film was real or a dream. That doesn't matter. What matters is that Cobb doesn't care. He spins his top, sees his children, and leaves the top spinning. He doesn't know if it falls or spins forever. Why would he? To him, this is what is real. He doesn't want the truth because the truth can be something awful. He could be in a dream, but why would it bother him if he doesn't know that? He can continue his life in the dream if his faith tells him that his children are real and that he is awake. Sure, the top could fall over, but the possibility of him being in a dream remains. We choose to believe what makes us happy.

What's genius about the final few seconds of the film is not that it makes you question your own reality. It's that it proves Nolan right. Raise your hand if you have a belief that the film is real or a dream and if you will argue your belief to the death. You don't actually know the truth behind the ending. No one does. But you think you do. Your faith says you're right.

And I could go on and on about how genius Nolan's themes of idea and influence are but I'm tired.

So, there you have it. 'Inception' isn't about reality, it's about faith and religion. And I've probably just told you all what you already know...sigh...

I haven't noticed as many things as you did, but I did notice these things.

Brilliant!!

Also in TDK he has a lot of religious themes involved, the entire interrogation scene is straight out of the Bible, from what I heard. Also Batman in a way does represent certain characteristics that we want God to have (though that is really pushing it, I mean in my opinion God would never use violence to hurt anyone). But whatever a lot of his films carry religious themes. They are carefully placed in there, and sometimes take a while to grasp.

Honestly though, this is why I love Inception, it can be looked at anyway, you can use it as a film about religion, but also as a film about the making of movies, about political agendas, marketing, ideas, dreams, husband/wife relationships, kids relationships, even father/son relationships (the entire subplot of Cillian Murphy and his dad is brilliantly played), a heist film. I mean seriously, this is the deepest film that I have ever seen.

Interpret it in any way you want.

Which brings up a good point, I've never heard Nolan speak much about religion.

No offense, but you could interpret any movie's plot to religion. It's like a combination of numbers that, with enough calculation, will get you whatever result you want it to be.

bLaZe wrote:No offense, but you could interpret any movie's plot to religion. It's like a combination of numbers that, with enough calculation, will get you whatever result you want it to be.

I know you can say any film represents religion (like that guy up there talking about 'The Dark Knight' ), but I think that religion was the point Nolan was trying to get across in this film.

"MAL: What are the distinguishing characteristics of a dream? Mutable laws of physics? Tell that to the quantum physicists. Reappearance of the dead? What about heaven and hell? Persecution of the dreamer, the creator, the messiah? They crucified Christ, didn't they?
COBB: I know what's real.
MAL: No creeping doubts? Not feeling persecuted, Dom? Chased around the globe by anonymous corporations and police forces? The way the projections persecute the dreamer? (Mal puts her hand on his face. Pitying.) Admit it, Dom. You don't believe in one reality any more. So choose. Choose your reality like I did. Choose to be here. Choose me."

This is what really does it for me. I have no doubt that 'Inception' is Nolan's analysis of religion. I thought it was pretty obvious.

^It's Nolan's analysis on Life.

As I stated the film can be used for any aspect of life. It is so deep, and complex.

While I'm not really a fan of the "it doesn't matter" theory, you have some very good points! I don't think that the movie is an alligory for faith, but the "train" quote and some other aspects you pointed out very much seem to refer to faith.

Damn, isn't this deep enough for a best picture nomination?

While I agree with much of what you say as being the thematic basis of the movie, I would hardly call it necessarily religious. I'd be more inclined to call it philosophical or even mythological before I'd call it any kind of religious.

Certainly, it deals with many of the same questions that religions deal with, but I think the problem we're running into here is the presumption that "faith" equals "religion." I think the aspects of faith, or more specifically trust and how it applies to interpresonal "leaps of faith", being dealt with have greater implications than any one religious denomination -- in a modern context -- could offer.

Rather than dealing with issues of religious doubt, I think moreso the movie depicts issues of existential doubt born of intellectual discourse. Issues of "planting ideas" and the responsibilties associated with the dissemination of ideas are of the essence here. While I see where this could carry over interpretively into issues of religious doubt, it isn't as totally supported by the contained text of the movie.

What I think we can all agree on here is, this movie deals with issues that echo infinitely in the human spirit. Themes and concepts as old as time, put into a challenging narrative framework that makes them feel as necessary as they ever have.

This is mind numbingly dumb.