Inception: Why Saito Is So Much Older Than Dom In Limbo

Ten years after Inception first released, the “Limbo” subplot continues to confuse many people. Directed by Christopher Nolan, the film begins with Leonardo DiCaprio’s Dom Cobb waking up on a beach and being taken to an elderly man named Mr. Saito (Ken Watanabe). Over the next two and a half hours, the storyline builds to a revelatory sequence that bookends the opening minutes. In Inception – now streaming on Netflix – here’s why there’s a huge age difference between Cobb and Saito when they meet in Limbo, a subconscious realm.

The rules of Limbo are explained throughout Inception. Nolan’s film begins with an extended sequence that explains Cobb’s line of work and how his team extracts information by exploring dreams within dreams. Saito, a wealthy businessman, enlists DiCaprio’s character to shut down a rival company. Cobb targets Robert Michael Fischer (Cillian Murphy), the son of a dying business mogul, and assembles a team that will allow him to create the ideal circumstances for the operation. Cobb needs a chemist (Dileep Rao as Yusuf) to create a potent chemical compound, an architect (Ellen Page as Ariadne) to construct various dreamworlds, a forger/impersonator (Tom Hardy as Eames) to imitate different dream figures, and a researcher (Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Arthur) to make sure everything goes as planned. Meanwhile, Saito buys an actual airline which allows the dream team to execute their plan during a 10-hour flight. From there, the various subplots of Inception become more complicated.

Saito accompanies Cobb’s team during the 10-hour flight, but doesn’t have any dream skills to offer. He’s only there to ensure that Cobb immediately receives his reward after executing the plan. Cobb wants to reunite with his two children, but he can’t legally enter the United States after being identified as a suspect in his wife’s death. In the first dream level, Saito is shot and wounded, which is the result of Arthur not identifying that Fischer had militarized his subconscious to prevent any type of extraction. Cobb then reveals that the high potency of their mechanical compound means that Saito, or any of them for that matter, can’t wake up after a dream state death. Instead, they drop into Limbo – an unconstructed dream space that only Cobb is familiar with. In the second dream level, Saito plays a minor role while his first-level self remains in a vehicle. In the third Inception dream level, Saito assists the group but ultimately dies, along with Fischer, who is subsequently sent to Limbo but saved by Cobb and Ariadne. As the team collectively reunites within the first dream level for the “kick” (a vehicle dropping into water), Cobb stays in Limbo to find Saito, and discovers that the businessman has been stuck in his “infinite subconscious” for decades upon decades.

Saito’s advanced age in Inception is the result of Yusuf’s compound. Prior to the 10-hour flight, the chemist explains that the dreamsharers’ collective brain functionality will multiply 20 times over. For a dream within a dream, “the effect is compounded.” Cobb then makes sure that everyone is clear about the effect during a 10-hour trip: one week in the first dream level, six months in the second level, and 10 years in the third level. What the team doesn’t realize, however, is that Cobb’s past experiences in deep dream states, specifically in Limbo, will negatively affect their plan, evidenced by the continued presence of his deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard), who appears as an angry projection. When Saito dies in the third level and sinks to Limbo, he’s already begun to age in ways that not even Cobb can fully understand.

In Inception, one of the final twists is that Saito has accepted Limbo as reality. He’s lived there for decades, just as Cobb knowingly spent decades in Limbo with his wife Mal. The big difference, however, is that Cobb purposely orchestrated a dreamstate plan to be with Mal, who eventually believed that Limbo was indeed reality after locking away her totem. Even though Cobb appears to act quickly during Inception’s finale, the potency of Yusuf’s compound has pushed Saito deep within his infinite subconscious.

Cobb knows that he must find Saito in Limbo, but also knows that the businessman likely won’t remember their arrangement. In fact, they even discuss this concept after Saito is shot in the first dream level. As it turns out, though, repetitive dialogue (“You’re going to become an old man, filled with regret, waiting to die alone”) and a spinning totem remind Cobb that the shores of his subconscious are not real. The old friends return to the real world, and Saito immediately honors his agreement by making the phone call that he promised all along, one that will allow Cobb to return to his family. Both men are clearly dazed upon waking up in Inception because they’ve been trapped within their subconscious much longer than the rest of the team.

About The Author

Q.V. Hough
(1892 Articles Published)

Q.V. Hough is a senior writer at Screen Rant. He’s also the founding editor at Vague Visages, and has contributed to RogerEbert.com and Fandor.

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