At the beginning of 'Inception', Nolan shocks the audience with a simple image that raises so many questions. We see a man laying down in the water. Is he dead? Is he sleeping? What happened to him? We have no clue what happened to him but something is clear, the contrast between his beat-up face against that beautiful water, blown away by the sunshine, gives the scene a peaceful and dream-like feeling. Now, this image appears and suggests that there should be a connection between the main character and the kids. However, is odd that we can't see the kids faces, showing their back to the man. They seem to be in the same physical space but psychologically they belong to a different space and time.