A Midsummer Night's Dream Within A Dream Within A Dream

This afternoon I saw "Inception" (not pictured).

Going into the movie, there were plenty of expectations.

I knew from Facebook that this was going to be a 'thinkpiece.'

Everyone who had seen it suggested that this film was so complicated.

Then, the day before I saw it, I received the following text from my brother "Saw Inception. It was great you would hate it."

It was followed up with the following text "You would compare it to the matrix because it has imagination and ideas."
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Allow me to clarify his point.

I make no misgivings about this.

I don't love "imagination" in films.

I'm in no way a science fiction fan.

I go to the movies for good writing, strong acting, and verisimilitude.

That's right, give me some explosions, nachos, and versimilitude... and I'm happier than a pig in ***t.

I want movies to explain the world around me or introduce me to people I wouldn't ordinarily meet.

I don't need to be transported to some magical world with fake named creatures and a hero's quest (I'm looking at you 'Lord of the Rings' series).
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But Inception wasn't some novel idea.

It was simply a manifestation of Freud's "The Interpretation Of Dreams" featuring the chick from "Juno."

I thought the film executed the premise well and did it in an entertaining way.
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First of all, you can't talk about dreams without talking about the father of psychiatry.

The film talked about "three levels of sleep."

Paging the ego, superego, and id.

You can only manipulate people's ideas by reaching that ultimate, deepest level.

In other words, you need to implant the instinct into their id.

So far, I'm not lost.

The id is also where your inner most, deepest instincts lie.

Now to Freud that often involved fornication and family, but the movie mercifully doesn't touch that (Freud did a lot of drugs).

In this case, the inner most workings of the id were represented by safes and locks.

And whenever you had a safe, someone would reveal their inner-most desires and-or secrets.

A simple enough conceit.
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The movie also incorporated much of the literature that I've read about manipulation.

Being a public policy major at an elitist school, we focused on that a lot.

The basic premise is, in order to truly get someone to do something you want them to do, they must be convinced that it is their idea.

The movie played that out.

And then just for the true geeks out there, the movie threw in a fight scene on the slopes that was reminiscent of the Hoth snow battle in "Empire Strikes Back."
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I really enjoyed "Inception," but I'm a little bummed that it was SOOO complex to people.

Any college freshman should be able to get this movie.

Or am i dreaming?