The Prestige

A man's reach exceeds his grasp

So says Nikola Tesla, wonderfully played by David Bowie in Christopher Nolan's The Prestige.

It all starts with a question.

What is the price you're prepared to pay to get to where you want to be.

The Prestige seems to be saying something. That the world is made up of a people with varying amounts of style and substance. Christian Bale plays a magician with substance. Hugh Jackman is the one with style. However, in order to succeed, you need more than just style or substance.

You need alot of determination (the relentless pursuit of perfection - like a Lexus), like picking yourself up again and again, even though your wife died, you lose two of your digits, your opponent acquired a super new trick, your opponent getting more of the limelight....

You need alot of resolve (but not the type of resolve feebly repeated by George "dubya" Bush), like willing to kill yourself over and over again each night, chiselling off two of your digits, pretending to be a limp just so that you can hide a giant goldfish bowl in between your knees (you gotta watch the movie), living the rest of your life as a double of somebody else, forsaking your loved ones, sacrificing your loved ones, sacrificing yourself...

You need alot of support (not the underwire bra), like from family, twin brothers, your-duplicated-self, aging Englishmen (Michael Caine), mad scientists, jilted lovers....

And one must always know that the climb to the top is a lonely one. And often, those who are closest to you will get hurt the most...

A man's reach exceeds his imagination

While the rivalry between the two magicians may be fictional.....the rivalry between Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison was real. In fact, that American swine (Edison) cheated the poor Serb (Tesla) when the latter was working for him...read about it here.