Now, taken at face value, Cobb's "freedom" seems to mean freedom from the factors that prevent him from ever going home again. But looking at some of the key lines of dialogue shared by Saito (Ken Watanabe) and Mal (Marion Cotillard) -- particularly the "leap of faith" both characters tell Cobb to take -- and the recurring mention of an "old man, filled with regret" would have us believe a different story. It's my conclusion that Professor Miles sees Cobb as a dreamer who refuses to wake up, much like the men in the underground parlor during an earlier scene shared with Yusef (Dileep Rao), the chemist. Scenes like these distract from the storyline we all perceive Inception to be about, though. The way the film is set up, Inception is a story about a man trying to get home to his children.