Always guilt

A visit to the movie theatre together with the woman of Saturday's chat.

Of course the film that had to be seen was "Inception" by director and writer Christopher Nolan.
With Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Ellen Page.

It is the story of a thief that can be hired.
To enter the minds of people and return with secrets.
Or to enter the minds of persons and change the way they think about something.
The way into the minds is by dreaming.
Both the thief and the victim need to be asleep for the process to be effective.

An interesting concept although this method exists as long as there are human beings.

One very good thing of this film "Inception" is that it doesn't approach the audience as if they were dummies.
It is a highly intelligent film and it invites to make a brain effort to understand what is happening in the film.

Obviously the director and the producers believed this was also a weak point of the film.
Because the Hollywood philosophy is that for a film to be successful, it must make money to return the investment and a profit.
Because they believe most people are stupid, a film must not be too intelligent.
In the film "Inception" they have answered this challenge by putting in a lot of violence, destruction and aggression.
To entertain those customers who can't follow the details of the complicated story.

All this violence, destruction and aggression is totally unnecessary for the story of the film.
But it makes "Inception" a box office hit and nobody seems to have a problem with that.

The bottom line of the film is far more interesting then all the violence, destruction and aggression.
It is very similar to the theme of Steven Soderbergh's 2002 film "Solaris" with George Clooney.
A man had a relationship with a woman who committed suicide.
Next, the man starts to feel guilty.
And spends his life trying to deal with that guilt.

In the film "Inception" the thief, Leonardo DiCaprio, goes to sleep to dream and enter the mind and the dream of the victim.
To do a good job he can't of course be disturbed and distracted by issues from his private life while on duty.
And this is of course exactly what happens.
Like in "Solaris", the woman that committed suicide appears in the dream and sabotages therefore the job.
Only because of the man's feeling of guilt.

The ending of "Inception" is similar to "Solaris" as well.
The man has to decide to return to his current life or stay in a dream that is like life together with the woman.
And surprise, surprise, in both films the man stays with the woman.
The feelings of guilt are not resolved.
Instead an escape of those feelings is made by staying in a dream world.

Writer and director Christopher Nolan better sends a box of chocolate to Steven Soderbergh with a thank you note.


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