THE PRESTIGE

This film review was contributed by Subhash ‘The General’ Pais. Subhash heads team Blue Warriors.


While I had been intent on vomiting out my entire dictionary of obscenities by writing a review of Tashan, something happened along the way that made me write this one instead.

I had been begging Shikha to lend me the DVD of the film, The Prestige, for a while now. Her standard reply would be: ‘Hey, what the f*** yaar, Shon has it. I need to get it back from him.’ Being the avid film consumer that I am, I was literally starved until last Saturday when I finally got my hands on the coveted DVD.

The Prestige features Hugh Jackman (X-Men), Christian Bale (Batman Begins), Michael Caine and Scarlett Johansson (do I need bother) in the lead roles. The film is written and directed by Christopher Nolan, one of the most gifted writers of this era. One has only to look at his incredible body of work right from Following, Memento to Batman Begins. Only Nolan could have driven Heath Leger to suicide. Great directors are capable of that.

The Prestige begins with a wonderful observation by the wise Harry Cutter (Michael Caine): “Every great magic trick consists of three acts. The first act is called ‘The Pledge’; the magician shows you something ordinary, but of course… it probably isn’t. The second act is called ‘The Turn’; the magician makes his ordinary thing do something extraordinary. Now if you’re looking for the secret… you won’t find it, that’s why there’s a third act called ‘The Prestige’. You know you are in for something special.

The Prestige has a lot of underlying layers of complex themes, drama and tension to the characters of Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Rupert Angier (Hugh Jackman). Throughout the film their mutual obsession for each other is due to a back story detailing their past. A past where they were initially friends—rivals even—and apprentices to the magician Harry Cutter (excellently played by Michael Caine). Borden and Angier's obsession is not just in ruining and sabotaging each other's magic tricks and lives, but also trying to find out each other's secrets as they both learn magic tricks which amaze and thrill the gentry of London's stage. From the beginning of the film these two characters begin a journey towards a path of destructive behavior which puts not just each others lives at risk, but those who they care about. All of it in the name of humiliating and upstaging the other due to a tragic incident early in their mutual careers. These two individuals are not sympathetic characters and one should applaud Christopher Nolan for not softening up their hard edges.

The two leading men bring to life the charisma and strong personalities that will make the audience root for one or the other. Should they root for the charismatic and born showman that Hugh Jackman's Angier character exudes or go for the perfectionist that Christian Bale’s Borden whose technical skills surpass that of Angier's but whose introverted and brooding personality gives him little or no stage presence.

Both Jackman and Bale play their characters well. The film wouldn't be so good if it wasn't for the work of these two actors. It helps that they're surrounded by quality supporting characters like Michael Caine as the seasoned, veteran mentor to the dueling magicians. Even Scarlett Johansson does very well with the part she's given. It's a part that many see as more of a throwaway character; a very good-looking distraction for both the story and the audience. But she gamely plays the role of pawn for both Angier and Borden. Unlike Michael Caine's character who remains the singular voice of sanity in the film, even Johansson's character of Olivia gets pulled into the obsessions and betrayals that's plagued both Angier and Borden. But in the end, she's just part of the process of ‘The Turn’ and if you watch closely right from the beginning she's also a clue as to the secret of one of the amazing magic tricks shown by the two magicians.

The Prestige has a distinct look: 19th-century London just before the start of the new millennium gives it a certain sense of Victorian-era familiarity. Production designer Nathan Crowley shows a London at the height of its Gilded Age, but soon gives way to a certain steam-punk look as inventor Nikola Tesla (played alarmingly well by David Bowie) makes an appearance during an integral part of the story. It's the ingenious looking technology created for the Tesla sequence which finally gives The Prestige its root in fantasy and science-fiction. The film doesn't dwell on this new development but from that part of the story and until the end, the film takes on a look and feel of a mystery-thriller.

My suggestion to all those who have wasted money watching Bhaiyya jees, Bikini jees and His Sissyness, would be to go and watch The Prestige. It’s the way movies ought to be made.