Movie Review - The Prestige

The Prestige
The protagonists of this movie really are three human emotions- Obsession , jealousy and deceit. The setting is in the end of nineteenth century England but it could have been anywhere and in any profession. When the guiding star of a person's life is to really destroy someone else then no good can ever come out of this. The story is that of intense rivalry between two magicians and how they will go to any extent to go one up on the rival, to the extent of killing one's own self. The emotions dealt with are nothing new, I would think they are the most primal but the use of science fiction in the movie is interesting , even though I would have liked it to be purely a trick of human ingenuity. However , the intensity of the jealousy and the deceit that are depicted are really powerful and are moments when one gets really involved in the story. The parallel tracks running in the movie are beautifully inter-woven. The performances are brilliant. The ending befitting to the characters involved. However the thing that stays with one after the movie is over is the power of the human mind when it is driven by obsession and jealousy. The sheer will power a person can have if all he does it is to destroy someone else, but on the way self destruction too is inevitable. Victory and revenge but at what cost? Sometimes victory doesn't lie in getting back but in letting go but how many of us are really capable of doing that.