The Prestige- Men and Magic

This weekend for Saturday movie night I was drawn into the dangerous world of magic and illusion by The Prestige. This Oscar-nominated film promised a lot of fun: rival magicians, beautiful assistants, magic tricks, secret codes, mystery- but there was a lot more to The Prestige than smoke and mirrors. Director Christopher Nolan delivered a story within a story within a story, giving the film a complexity and texture reminiscent of Nolan's Memento, while keeping a tight focus on the storyline and delivering viewers with both a behind-the-scenes look at illusion and a thrilling dose of real magic.

The Prestige is based on a book by Christopher Priest and was adapted for film by Christopher Nolan and his brother, Johnathan (fans of Memento will remember that Christopher's screenplay was based on Johnathan's short story "Memento Mori"). When these brothers put their heads together nothing is exactly as it seems- an ideal setting for a story about magicians.

Anyone who has seen a magician perform can understand the thrill, the showmanship, the titillating sense of danger as the magician is strapped into a straight jacket or prepares to saw his lovely assistant in two. The Prestige makes us experience the real risk of performing these tricks. I loved the shorthand of the disappearing doves and birds to express the brutal side of the magician's craft, and I loved the parallel drawn between the magicians' birds and the women in their lives. Science fiction fans will also be thrilled to meet Nikola Tesla (played by David Bowie) and learn how the Tesla coil figures into the rivalry as The Great Danton tries to discover the secret of The Professor's greatest trick, "The Transported Man."

Fans of Memento will notice that The Prestige is more explicit than Memento. In an attempt to make sure the audience "gets" the ending, some exposition occurs at the climax of the film that may bother people who would rather puzzle the mystery out for themselves. Characters also explicitly tell the audience that obsession is ruining both "The Great Danton" and "The Professor- a fact the filmmakers had already made obvious and hardly needed to mention in dialog. Aside from these minor quibbles, this film was fun, exciting, and managed the daunting task of avoiding black hats and white hats. There are no good guys or bad guys in this film- only men, and magic.