A masterpiece from Nolan

Rating: 9/10 (14 August 2016)

This movie isn't the only unique narrative that has come from Nolan. Among the most known are obviously Interstellar and Inception. However, in my opinion 'The Prestige' takes the cake. It tells the story of two stage magicians driven by rivalry, hopes of fame, money and happiness.
The movie starts off by explaining the three elements of a magic trick. 'The Pledge', or the ordinary, 'The Turn', or the extraordinary done by the ordinary, and 'The Prestige', the essence of the extraordinary (also called the reveal). The movie itself is implicitly split into the three parts, with Nolan building up to the movie's own Prestige. In the Pledge, the movie introduces our primary characters - magicians Alfred Borden (Christian Bale) and Robert Angier (Hugh Jackman) in London. The movie explores how the two magicians who start off as friends slowly end up at each other's throats due to a magic act taking the life of Angiers' wife, and the water escape artist Julia.
The whole script is written in a series of flashbacks, and narrations from a diary which consistently misdirect the audience's concentration like an attractive assistant in a magic trick. The whole movie focuses on proving to the audience how we, as the spectators, like to be fooled by the trick, rather than figure out the trick itself. Nolan puts all clues in front of our eyes, starting with the hats, Borden's weird behavior, Borden's ingeniør's character, his continuously switching love interest and yet, the reveal is unpredictable and comes as a shock when it finally happens.
Angier is the typical showman. He knows how to charm his audience, but lacks the technical prowess. Borden on the other hand, understands the nature of stage magic, but fails to understand how to sell his show using proper showmanship. It all starts when Borden's urge to try a new knot in the water escape trick causes the death of Angier's wife on stage. This causes a long series of hatred, jealousy and cheap tricks(sabotage, accusations and killings) between the two magicians now working alone.
For a movie on magic to have the desired effect, the ambiance created within the movie needs to be very powerful. This has been done exceedingly well in the movie as well. All the stage costumes, the background music, their disguises, everything creates a spell of immersion for the audience to enjoy.
In my opinion, The Prestige is a must watch movie for anybody who wishes to give his/her mind a jog.