Ok, for fun and because my life is busy I took paper and scissors and did the quick experiment (how is the light coming from deeper part of the reflector different from the outer part). The flashlight is a budget 57mm xml-thrower on 5%low, 3 meter from wall:
Three times the same flashlight, without masking, with outside masked and with inside masked (first flashlight picture looks smaller, but was taken a bit further away, the beamshots were taken from exact the same distance, exposure was on automatic because what was relevant was spatial distribution, not brightness.
Bit roughly performed, but this shows nicely what you explained, drJ 
djozz