Inception and the mystery of the spinning top

I'm about to reveal a major spoiler for inception, so if you don't want to know anything about the film I strongly suggest you skip this post.














Ok, there has been much speculation about the crucial final shot of the film Inception. If you have seen the film you know what I'm talking about. Leonardo Dicaprio spins his top on a table as he goes to see his kids again, but as he exits the frame the camera moves back to the top which is still spinning. It wobbles precariously for a few seconnds and the film cuts to black.

The signifigance of the top is that; as explained by Leo's character early on in the film; The top will never stop spinning in the dream world and will topple eventually in the real world. The final shot of the top wobbling a bit but not falling leaves enough room for interpretation so that most will want to return for a second viewing. If it wasn't for the top, most probably would leave feeling pretty satisfied with the film.

The beauty of the final shot though, is that Nolan has basically constructed a trap for the audience. He ends the film with that annoying final shot as a silent dare for us to not analyze the meaning of this new development. Most will fall for the trap and find themselves stuck in a never-ending realm of questions. While the ending did anger me because it cheapens the film for me...at the same time I realize that in reality it makes the film much better.

At the end Leo's character is able to walk away from the top and accept wherever he is as reality. Could he be dreaming...sure. Could he be awake....sure, but in the end it doesn't matter. Nolan wants the audience to walk away from the top. The beauty and point of the film is not to know.

For me, I personally believe that in the end Cobb is back in reality...and my conclusion has nothing to do with the spinning top...it's that he sees his kids faces again, while in every other dream their faces are never shown. And there I go again falling into Nolans elaborate trap. In the end, as hard as it may be, it is crucial that we learn to walk away from that top as Cobb did. Nolan wants us to, like Cobb, accept wherever he is as reality, and he thrust the top into the final shot to get us to doubt ourselves.

So for the next couple weeks or months; however long the speculation goes on for; I will be happily satisfied with reading every person's beliefs on the ending and their evidence for why they think this way. It's always fun to speculate after a film is over, especially for geeks like me. Although I will enjoy reading all the opinions that the film is bound to create, I will remember that it's important to to walk away and let that infernal top continue to wobble, tempt me as it may.