- The Station Inspector assists him (because the thought of a comically officious but mostly endearing character like that collaborating with the Nazis isn't terribly fun) and in this universe, Hugo's presence, as well as that of Isabelle (who has matured somewhat beyond her need for sheer adventure, and understands the gravity of what she is doing) changes the course of the war.
- Most likely, like the real-life archivists, Hugo will travel across France to preserve films at risk under war. Including Jean Renoir's anti-Nazi The Grand Illusion and then he will work for the French Cinematheque and become friends with the French New Wave.
The entirety of Hugo takes place in Cobb's subconscious. Hence in Hugo the constant talk about movies as dreams, the fixation on trains, the dream-within-a-dream scene, and Hugo's nocturnal anxiety attack over his own realness. Also, the surreal way that events from Hugo's favorite movies then actually happened, like dangling from a clock face or nearly being hit by a train, suggests a dream state.
After Mal's death, Cobb regressed to a childlike persona, fleeing into a fantastical dreamscape based on the city, Paris, where he first met his wife. Cobb's talent with dream architecture and meticulous timekeeping is visually represented by his clockwork world. Like himself, his dream persona, Hugo, is incredibly lonely, emotionally damaged, and feels desperately lost. Hugo's grief for his father is a reflection of Cobb's grief as a father.
Cobb creates a younger, idealized Mal as a projection in the form of Isabelle, who, like her counterpart in Inception, is a thoughtful French girl who escapes into fiction from the banality of real life. This Mal projection serves as a companion, assuaging his loneliness. A younger projection of Miles shows up as Tabard, and like his Inception counterpart, is a Parisian professor who makes the visualization of dreams his life's study. Precise names and faces differ because Cobb instinctively know the danger of recreating real people exactly.
Papa Georges is a projection of older, cynical Cobb, whose life's work of dream creation has only led to heartbreak. Restarting the automaton is a form of inception, convincing Papa Georges, the jaded part of Cobb's subconscious, that his work is vital to the world.
The clock tower was an electricity generator that ran the town. Like in Dark City. Hugo was picked by Georges because he was made sentient with implanted memories. That's why his father's fire memories looked so odd and had the film sound. It also explains why the uncle disappeared for many months without anyone questioning or finding him. That first morning we see him is the first day he was activated. Georges kept watch at the the toy shop, making sure that Hugo was doing his job. When Georges was talking about movies being dreams, he was right.And at end he either took Hugo to the real world or he watched the movie with the other robots inside the dome.So basically the movie is a mixture of Kingdom Hearts, The Big O, Dark City, Blade Runner, and Inception based on trans-humanism for kids. Awesome.
- Turns out Hugo was collecting them. They're in a pile on the table in his room.