<p>Here’s another good take on it that I read:</p>
<p>*I don’t think he was dreaming. His wedding ring was missing during that scene. He only ever wears the band during dreams.</p>
<p>But that really isn’t enough. So how 'bout this: While we were watching an inception being performed on the screen, Nolan was performing an inception on our minds. From the very beginning of the movie (once Cobb begins to explain the dangers between reality and the dream world), Nolan has planted the notion in your mind, through Leo’s character, that it was all going to end up being a dream. So by the time the end comes around, you’re like, “Well, yeah! I knew that was going to happen!” But you only “knew” because it had been put there.</p>
<p>Remember how Arthur says, “If I tell you not to think about elephant, what are you thinking about?” This mind**** is much like this except it want presented to us directly. It was slipped in smoothly so, much like a parasite (as Cobb describes) that thought grew in our minds. This is why many have deemed Inception as “predictable”. In all honesty, though, I believe Nolan wanted us to think it was all a dream, thus distracting us from the fact that it was reality. His intention wasn’t to end it all as a dream. His intention was to make us THINK it all ended in a dream.*</p>