preview

The Prestige

Decent Essays
The Prestige (2006) Christopher Nolan The Prestige is a movie that shows the rivalry between magicians Alfred “The Professor” Borden and Robert “The Great Danton” Angier. Their struggle is expressed through class warfare: Borden as The Professor, a working-class magician who gets his hands dirty, versus Angier as The Great Danton, a classy, superior showman whose accent makes him appear American. Obsession, secrecy, and sacrifice increase the battle, as both magicians contribute their fair share to a deadly duel of one-upmanship, with disastrous results. One influential scene when discussing these themes is the scene where we are in Alfred Borden’s prison cell back in the present day, Borden comes to the end of Angier's diary,…show more content…
Angier and one of the twins both lose Olivia's love because of their "inhumanity". The other theme of this same scene is their humanity is gone. What helps reveal that is that Angier has finally gotten his hands dirty, when Angier would involve Borden’s child in their rivalry. Angier refuses to help clear his name, and won't even take the secret of Borden's "Transported Man" and rips it up which he has been wanting this whole time and did everything he has done up until this point for. You finally see that all humanity in Angier is finally gone and that there is no turning back. Both Borden and he have had so many different secrets and different lives that it is finally coming to an end. Nolan really does a great job with this scene and makes it feel like this was the final “magic” act of the movie. We can now finally see that their humanity has gone and that their rivalry was too great for either one to handle. This final shot in the movie sheds light on everything both magicians have done in their lives and how much they have diverted from their normal selves. Nolan does a great job with this scene by just using a few different camera angles and focuses on capturing the actor’s reactions not setting. Therefore, this shot was very influential in the storytelling of this film and though not a happy ending, it does give resolve to the audience and the story. Discussion Questions: 1. Who was the antagonist and who was the protagonist of this movie?
Get Access