By Jake Harvey

Warning: Spoilers

Let me start with this – Nolan apparently workshopped the script for close to ten years! That kind of patience and dedication to the work of filmmaking is what will cement Nolan in film history generations from now. In addition to the film’s incredible originality, the editing keeps you on your toes, the visual effects are stunning, the sets are well designed, the camerawork is killer, and the cast is bonkers good.

Something I appreciate about this film (and others like Interstellar or Arrival) is that it uses the sci-fi genre to explore the human condition. Yes, this film’s plot is rather complex and abstract, but its emotional core centers on a man trying to reunite with his family – that is a sci-fi premise I can get behind. Some have criticized Nolan’s films for being cold, emotionless, or lacking in empathy, but I really don’t think those criticisms apply here. I consistently care about the characters, sharing in their grief, guilt, and desire for reconciliation. And of course, Hans Zimmer’s music drives these emotional shifts perfectly. “Time” deserves all the love it has received since the film’s 2010 release – blaring and intense when it needs to be, but delicately intimate when called for. And the movie’s ending is one of the absolute best ever. I do love some good ambiguity, but also, for my emotional well-being, I’ve convinced myself it’s not a dream. So there.

Perhaps the part of the movie that I appreciate most is Cobb’s realization that he can’t fully “recreate” a person in his mind. Cobb’s false projection of Mal is not Mal. In the same way, our ideas of people are often too general, too simple – mere shadows, distortions even, of who they really are. It takes time and effort to know someone deeply, and even then, you’d find yourself unable to recapture them in all their complexity should we have the dream-altering abilities of Cobb. We can’t reduce anyone to our own perceptions of them because that doesn’t do them justice. Cobb reaches this limit of the human imagination when he tries to recreate Mal. The kind of creativity to create such unique individuals is reserved only for the great mind over all creation – God.

When humans try to do the works of God on their own, we only run into problems. Such kinds of simplifications of people are often what drive our misunderstanding of others, and those misunderstandings lead to escalating tension. Is that not what we see today in American politics, and perhaps most pointedly in race issues? So often, one of the biggest problems we face is that we don’t interact with people outside our own circles. The tragic result is that our ideas of who the “others” are filtered through or perhaps even defined by what we hear about them on the news or from others rather than from personal experience or interaction. 

During my sophomore year of college, I roomed with four other guys, three of whom were strongly conservative politically. It was convicting for me to have political conversations with them because I began to realize I’d convinced myself that nearly all Trump supporters were blind and stupid. I know, pretty foolish of me. What an unfair generalization! Sure, I still disagree with them on many political issues, and everybody has their blind spots (including me), but hearing directly from conservatives themselves about how they came to their political conclusions was so fruitful and instrumental in repairing my mistaken perception. I saw how they got from Point A to Point B because I interacted with them, lived among them, and took time to listen to them. I’m not saying my perceptions are no longer warped, but I do feel they’re more balanced than before.

My basic point is this – instead of putting yourself in a safe echo chamber of people and ideas you’re already familiar with, I implore you instead to fully engage with ideas and people vastly different from you. I didn’t say it’d be easy, but I’d be willing to bet you’ll come out a whole lot wiser and a whole lot more compassionate.