The Prestige - 'Have you watched Closely?'

The Prestige - 'Have you watched Closely?' - Part I

A story-teller and the best of his kind in Hollywood would be Christopher Nolan. Like literature, his stories has all the elements and is always told with layers within layer. Though, the fast moving shots and detailed script leaves less space for self-reflection, he presents his philosophies through the actions of his character and gives more importance to the narration/story rather than space and silence. If we would place (which we shouldn't but only for getting an idea) him in the literary world, he is closer to Charles Dickens and farther from Dostoevsky and Hemingway.

"The Prestige" is a master piece of story telling; attaining the unattainable. I could write just one piece on it explaining it's perfection which many fail to notice. Because, "They are not really looking. They want to be fooled!"

This film, like the magic trick, is presented in three parts:

The Pledge : Here, a director shows you something ordinary. But of course.... it probably isn't.
A man who is not guilty of a murder is served with a death penalty.
Borden is held responsible for the murder of Robert Angier. We see Angier dies and Borden is not the one who did it.
The Turn: Here the director takes that 'something ordinary' and makes it do 'something extraordinary'!The man who was murdered is actually alive and is playing Borden. Still, the man (Borden) has to suffer and face the death penalty.
The Prestige:
But you wouldn't clap yet, the director has to bring Borden back and so he does the most difficult part called 'The Prestige'. Borden comes back and kills Angier.

This film works like a magic spell on you. One would just observe these three parts in the film and 'you want to know the secret'. Superficially, Angier's mystery is answered by Tesla's cloning machine...

But, Have you watched Closely?

The film takes us on a journey. A journey as true as the words in the journal.
Angier leaves for Tesla in a coach. But visiting Tesla is just as true as Angier's words in the diary.

(Solved in Part II)

Comments

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