Christopher Nolan Inception Takes place in at least four different dream levels, all of which have their own dreamer, layout, and time dilation factor. While InceptionIts ending has dominated the conversation around the movie For over a decade, the film has a complex enough story even without considering the mystery of whether the top stopped spinning. The best way to understand Inceptions dream levels is to assume that what Cobb perceives as reality is really real, at least initially.
Cobb had to perform an inception in Robert Fisher, meaning Leonardo DiCaprio’s character had to get deep enough into the subconscious of the target and plant an idea That would grow like a virus. Fischer’s mind couldn’t trace the origin of the idea, which is why they would need at least three levels to complete the mission. The Christopher Nolan movie establishes a series of rules about how each level works, including but not limited to how differently time passes in each and what is the bridge that will wake up the characters.
Ground zero is reality
Time Dilation: None
Although not technically a dream level as far as we know it, reality can be considered ground zero of Cobb’s mission in Inception. Inception Starts with a scene that is later revealed to be set in limbo, followed by moments from two different dream levels that help us understand what Cobb is doing and how the concept of shared dreams works. Between Cobb and Arthur’s first interaction with Saito and Cobb running for his life in Mombasa, Keeping track of reality in the first act of Inception can be difficult.
We are asked to assume that everything that happened from the moment Cobb was hired by Saito to when they started the Fisher mission was in fact, the only exception is a couple of flashbacks. That said, Inception Plays around with the idea of what is real or not even before the real Inception Mission starts, especially with Cobb not waiting for his top to stop spinning after he wakes up from a deep sleep powered by Yusuf’s new compound in Mombasa. Regardless, The fishing mission begins in the plane.
The first level is the rainy city
Time dilation: 10 hours equals one week
Assuming the reality as Cobb knows it is indeed the real world, the first dream level of the fisher mission is the rainy city. Just as the team is sedated and falling asleep on the plane, they find themselves in the middle of a city during a heavy downpour. We learn that the rain is caused by the fact that Yusuf, who is the dreamer on this level, drank too much on the plane before falling asleep. This is where the Inception plan kicks inWith the team staging the kidnapping of Robert Fischer.
The idea was to use the kidnapping scenario to force Robert Fischer’s subconscious to reveal key information about his relationship with his father, which was the key to Cobb’s inception plan. However, Arthur’s research failed to reveal that Robert Fisher was trained to protect his subconscious against dream invaders like Cobb. That’s why Cobb and his team are attacked by armored men In the middle of the city – this is a defense mechanism sent by Fisher’s subconscious. This completely changes the parameters of the mission, forcing the team to move faster and deeper into Fischer’s subconscious.
The second level is the hotel
Time dilation: 10 hours equals six months
After performing the kidnapping routine in the first level and realizing that Fisher was more than willing to deal with them, the Inception Characters put a much more risky plan into practice on the second level – “Mr. Charles.” It involves telling Fisher that he is dreaming so that Cobb can introduce himself as the person who is training him To deal with extractors. It is an extremely risky plan because it reveals to the target they are in a dream, meaning their subconscious puts up their defenses immediately. Through the “Mr. Charles” plan, Cobb learns more about Fischer.
Here the goal is to make the fisherman believe that his God is a traitor. The only way to fix Robert Fisher’s relationship with his father was by destroying the only positive relationship he had in his life, which is why they started framing Browning as a traitor. with Fisher began to believe that Browning was behind the kidnapping And in Cobb’s Mr. Charles story, he is now part of the team without knowing he is actually the target of their mission. Cobb, Eames, Saito, Ariadne and Fischer then get another level down.
The third level is the snow fortress
Time dilation: 10 hours equals 10 years
Fischer, now believing that Cobb and his team are trying to help him, thinks that he is the one dreaming of this level. The Snow Fortress was supposed to be the last stage of the mission, with the fort in the middle of the map guarding the secret Fisher believed he was looking for. actually, Including fishermen in the ford was the liberation of the beginning, which they tried to carry out. They were now deep enough in Fisher’s mind to plant the idea that not only did the father love him, but he wanted his son to carve out his own path.
The plan goes off the rails after Cobb, who insists that Ariadne would show him the fastest way to get to the fort, leads Mal into Fisher. Cobb was not the dreamer or the architect for any of these levels because his subconscious was compromised due to the guilt he carried with him over Mal’s death. Mal got to Fisher before he could open the safe and shoot him. The mission was about to be declared a failure, however Ariadne suggested that they go deeper, that there was still time to bring down the fishermen. and complete the mission.
The fourth level is limbo
Time dilation: 10 hours equals 200 years
Inceptions dream levels and time dilation rules start to get more complicated after they enter limbo. It is unclear how exactly the limbo works or what it even is, including whether each person gets their own limbo, or if it is a shared dream level. Ariadne, Fisher, and Saito were all apparently sent to the same limbo Cobb and Mal inhabited. During all these years, and we even get to see the world they created. Going into the limbo was very risky, if all the kicks were correct, everyone would be able to return.
Once Ariadne found Fisher, she threw him and herself out of Coban’s house to force a bridge on both of them. Cobb stayed behind to finally confront his memories of Mal and to find Saito, who had died in the earlier levels and risked being lost forever in limbo. Time dilation in limbo with this specific compound was 1 in 160000, meaning that Saito could have already lived a lifetime when Cobb found him. This is exactly what happened, and It brings Inception Full circle back to where the movie began.
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Once Cobb finds Saito and reminds him of who he was and the promise he made, it is implied that they kill each other and wake up. All the other kicks in the other levels happened successfully – the bombs Arthur planned in the elevator, the van falling and hitting the water, and the timer reaching zero in the plane. Inception Ends with the entire team waking up in the real world as Saito picks up the phone to make sure Cobb can return to the United States. Cobb returns home but can’t check if his totem has fallen, hence the never-ending theories.