The Illusionist - A movie with magic.

I was asked by a friend, in fact someone whom I consider to be a mentor to watch this movie if possible. Unfamiliarity with the p2p downloading tricks kept me on it for almost 30 hours spanned over a couple of days, though 90% of the movie was downloaded in the initial two hours. What happened to the remaining 10% - or what was it that made it go on for 28 hours - I am still trying to figure it out. At the end however, i feel that the 30 hours were worth it.

I may have to watch the movie again, as when am writing this, I am trying to recollect the movie scene by scene. There were a couple of times when I found myself lost in the movie.

The story is told from the perspective of the Head of Police - Officer Uhl, who as you soon learn has just arrested the magically gifted main character, otherwise known as ‘Eisenheim the Illusionist’. It creates a vision of Vienna that is a mix of fantasy and history, which plays with the concept of distinction based on class - which tends to fade away - as the old world gives way to a new one. A movie where science and the supernatural mix. It finds a magical background where it pleases almost everyone, where its just strange to thrill the fans and effortless enough to satisfy those who merely seek a diverting entertainment.

The story then unfolds as you witness a young Eisenheim being torn away from his forbidden and aristocratic love - A Duchess a.k.a Sophie. It then skips forward to a time when both Sophie and Eisenheim are fully grown and a chance encounter reunites them. The Duchess is unfortunately due to marry the crown prince at this time, an arrangement she cannot leave. Crown Prince Leopold is the type of man who is jealous of anyone else’s fame and in his envy asks officer Uhl to destroy Eisenheim’s career and reputation. Charging the illusionist with making threats against the empire, Prince Leopold does everything in his considerable power to ruin Eisenheim and keep his own prized possession – Sophie – from finding happiness with her first love.

The Illusionist is an intense battle of wills between the Prince Leopold and Eisenheim, with officer Uhl - an amateur magician himself and someone fascinated with Eisenheim’s work - stuck in the middle. Is Eisenheim calling on supernatural powers when he makes butterflies appear out of thin air, plants grow to full height in the space of mere minutes, or performs other extraordinary tricks onstage, or is it all smoke and mirrors? Uhl seeks answers to the source of Eisenheim’s powers while delicately balancing his admiration for the magician with his duty to the Crown Prince. A murder, an investigation, and love-crazed trickery follow as the plot climbs to it’s somewhat disappointing climax.

Disappointing? You might ask, when it is evident that I had liked the movie. Of course, I had. Yet, I would have liked the characters of the Head of Police and the Crown Prince to have been stronger. The Head of Police comes to understand what actually has happened in the climax - where remembering a conversation he once overheard unfolds the mystery.

I do not deny the fact that there is magic in the movie, the type that reminds one why we fall in love with movies, for creating illusions that captures us in and out and keeps us enchanted even when the rational parts of our mind keeps us hooked on to it. Yet, it could have been more thrilling.