7. What exactly is a kick?
A kick is one way to pull someone out of a dream. Usually a signal will be given to the dreamer to make them aware that a kick is coming.
After the signal is given the kick is performed. A kick is the feeling of falling and this feeling is what wakes you up. For example, when Cobb was sitting on the chair and he was pushed into the bathtub or when Arthur performs the elevator explosion or when Yusuf’s van drops etc. By disrupting the equilibrium of the dreamer you are able to wake them.
Kicks were used a lot in the final sequence and it got a bit confusing. I will attempt to clarify it all by working backwards.
Fischer and Ariadne jumped off the building in level 4. This was the first kick. Since the characters were so far under, they needed two synchronized kicks to boot them out of the level. Note that Cobb, who had already been stabbed at this point, decided to ignore the kick because he wanted to go after Saito in limbo.
After Fischer and Ariadne jump off the building, Eames provides a second kick to both of them by blowing up the compound.
Meanwhile in level 2, Arthur’s elevator explosion pulls all the level 3 characters (Eames, Fischer and Ariadne back to level 2. At the same time, Yusuf’s van hitting the water pulls everyone in level 2, back to level 1. To get from level 1 to reality is the tricky part. There are two possibilities. Some people say they had to wait for the sedatives to wear off and some people say they could just kill themselves and wake up since they were only one level down in the dream.
When the music is played it acts as a cue so the person knows a kick is coming soon. That person would then set up a kick for the people who are asleep in his level (eg: like Arthur did in the hotel).
8. What exactly is limbo?
Limbo is pure sub consciousness. It is a state of mind. If you die under heavy sedation you are in danger of being stuck in limbo. Limbo is an infinite construct with nothing in it, except what is left over from anyone that is sharing who has been there before. It’s important to remember that limbo isn’t owned by any one dreamer.
To be in limbo, your mind must truly believe that you’re in reality and it is not a dream. The same goes for escaping limbo. To escape limbo you must truly believe that the world you are in is fake. The problem is, the deeper you go, the harder it becomes to distinguish between reality and a dream. When Cobb goes to limbo to find Saito he isn’t effected that much at the start. By the time we see him with Saito he clearly looks confused. This is because he’s been there for a while already and has started to lose his mind.
The reason limbo is so dangerous is because when you get that far down, you truly don’t know what is reality and what is a dream. Your mind must truly believe you are dreaming and are in a dream world if you want to escape.
Limbo is something that wasn’t explained as well as it should have been in the film. There is a lot of confusion surrounding it and there are a lot of contradictions with it. Most of this stems from the ending which sees Saito going to limbo and Cobb following him.
The ending can be seen in one of two ways. Either you believe that Saito and Cobb escaped to the real world or they didn’t. If you believe that they did, then it is most likely that Cobb convinced Saito that his world wasn’t real and Saito truly believed him. Therefore when Saito picks up the gun, he shoots himself and Cobb and they are both kicked out of limbo and back onto the plane.
If you believe that the ending is a dream, then it is most likely that when Saito picked up the gun he only shot Cobb. Doing so would send Cobb into a deeper state of limbo in which he can build his own world and truly be happy.
He could finally be with his kids (although it is just a dream) and Saito will have kept up his end of the deal since he technically sent Cobb home.
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