Skip to main content

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


Actions of the characters in Prestige is driven by 'ambition'. The ambition of the two magicians to be better than the other. As Borden proved himself to be a better magician and sent Robert in search of Tesla; coming up with a science or real magic won't satisfy Robert's ego. Angier never got any output from Tesla. 'The evil machine' was just a wild goose chase for Borden like Tesla was for Angier.

We want to know the secret but we are not really looking. We want to be fooled.


Angier's Ploy:
  1.  After losing all hope with Tesla's machine, in his desperation, he turns to his double Gerald Root. He finds him and trains him well.
  2. Though the machine couldn't create magic, it could at least be a spectacle for the eyes of audience to get enough distraction.
  3. Using Root as his double and spectacle of science, he performs 'The Transported Man'.
  4. In the opening scene of the film, it was Root who was inside the water tank. Borden was to be executed for his murder as Angier planned.
  5. Angier excelled so much in his magic that even Cutter couldn't find out how he did it.
The Trick played with our mind with this magically presented film:
  1. A mystery is shown to surround 'The Evil Machine'. A trick used by magicians to distract audiences from the truth.
  2. Making of the machine by a real scientist (Tesla) makes it more believable.
  3. Most part of the film is Borden's imagination based on only a few facts he knew to be true. This makes us believe it as truth.
  4. The fact of mentioning Edison makes the story somewhat detailed and believable (to Borden and even us).
  5. The scenes where a clone of Angier shoots the other is just in imagination (of Borden's mind. Borden couldn't believe that Angier is using a double, like Angier wasn't able to believe the same).
  6. The last scene where various water tanks are present shows only one body of Angier and that too with this dialogue, "because you want to be fooled"
A classic literal achievement in film-making of which many directors just dream.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The whimsical phrases of 'Capital I'

10 years from now, this film would be remade and probably then the original would be looked upon. There hasn't been a cinematic piece in a long time which was driven solely by such individualistic expression. Be it the philosophical discussion or contemplative imagery, everything screams of the psyche of one individual - 'Capital I'. **Read this after watching the film once** Visually profound and intelligently crafted, at the core of this film you can find an identity and a story embedded in each other. The story of a girl struggling to identify herself with a strict sexual orientation and resorts to 'something' to escape her reality, while a physics professor helps her resolve the conflict in her mind. The identity of a mysterious character named Capital I is presented through its work - visuals and poetry, driven by curiosity among various characters in the film about it. The film portrays the two themes uniquely, bravely. However a harmonic fusion betw...
Post a Comment
Read more

Richard Parker - "So many 'Richard Parker' must mean something" - Yann Martel

Yann Martel was quoted saying "So many Richard Parker must mean something". He referred to many fictional and real characters by the name of Richard Parker who were shipwrecked and in most of the cases, resorted to cannibalism. Unlike Poe's, Martel's story instead of being gruesome is rather adventurous; while the context remains the same. Coming to the film, Richard Parker was a hunter whose name interchanged with tiger's due to clerical error. This part of the discussion will tend to represent my perceptions, maybe I am wrong, but please try to feel it with an open mind and consider it. If you think otherwise please let me know. The naming of Pi after a swimming pool is absurd and reflects the absurdity of life. I think, perhaps, Richard Parker was the actual name of Pi. As they were Hindu, it could have been Richard Patel (due to French influence in Pondicherry). In the movie poster also, half faces of both tiger and Pi is shown, probably, to point ou...
Post a Comment
Read more

"Which Story do you Prefer?"

Mychael Danna, beautifully crafted the music of Life of Pi and comes with probably the most soulful theme of the decade - "Which story do you Prefer". As a filmmaker, Ang lee probably made Danna feel every characters and situations and recreate it with music. We all understand that a film couldn't make us feel the temperature of sun, or the moisture at sea, it is just the music which could be close to these feelings. Likewise, in that track, there is a moment of self reflection, and probably a dilemma - Not to Pi, but to all of us who want to find a meaning out of it. As Pi asks towards the end that why you need to find meaning out of it. Because when you do, you will have to stick to your perception about truth. When you try to find meaning, you always keep trying but never get it. Like no one understood the Pi = 3.14159..... cause it's just life, raw life. You don't have to desperately try to give meaning to it. But we do give meaning to our ongoing l...
Post a Comment
Read more