The Illusionist is a Master of On Screen Magic

Edward Norton is a masterful magician. Or at least he plays one on the big screen. The actor who has been nominated for two Oscars, appeared in such great movies as "American History X" and "Fight Club," creates an illusionist, a character that I'll never forget in the movie so titled, The Illusionist. Set in the turn of the 20th century, this movie is the most cinematically beautiful and wonderfully creative magic based movie that I've ever seen. Norton creates an almost ominous magician character who still retains a human touch. There is a flashback to the poor young boy, the son of a cabinet maker, who loves magic. He meets and falls in love with Sophie, a beautiful upper-class girl. When they are caught running away together, he is told never to see her again or he will be arrested. He leaves to travel the world in search of the secrets of magic.

Years later he returns to Vienna as renowned illusionist Eisenheim. Astonishing audiences and playing to sell-out crowds, Eisenheim’s in the midst of his show when Sophie is volunteered to assist by Crown Prince Leopold, her soon to be fiancee and also the story's antagonist. Both pretend not to know one another, however Eisenheim and Sophie immediately recognize one another as childhood loves.

Even though he seems at times beyond human, he becomes a sympathetic character. Just to see the awesome power of the master magician as he captivated his theatre audience with his mysterious countenance was enough to make me go back again.

As a magician, I can say that I was completely envious of the small theaters which he played. The audiences were entranced by the unexplainable and he did little to explain the happenings. There was a magical moment when he was discussing the element of time and he moved an orange back and forth then dropped it from one hand to the other. He slowed time down and the orange fell in slow motion from the top hand to the bottom to the gasps of the audience. Then he takes one of the seeds from the orange and plants it only to speed time up and watch it grow into a full blown orange tree. From the tree he picks several oranges and throws them into the audience.

The movie is like reading a Melbourne Christopher history book. Turning the pages I used to wonder what it would be like to work on such a stage and astound such an audience. I could feel the excitement which must have been created when Pepper's Ghost was first put on stage.