Angier used a glass crate to drown his other half.
However, glass crates are see through and risk exposing the trick.
Why not use something else, like wood or steel or something not see-through?
I see this as a bit of a plot device and/or plot hole that was used by the writers in order to incriminate Borden.
Here are a few thoughts:
- Julia, Angier's wife, died in a watertank while performing a trick. One could say Angier longed to be reunited with his wife by sharing her exact same fate. (There's a scene right after Julia's drowning where Angier keeps his head under water in the sink.)
- As Cutter also explains to the judge, the watertank held particular significance to both Angier and Borden (because of Julia's death) and hence to the start of their rivalry; although I think that's a red herring, because (a) Borden hadn't put the watertank there, and (b) I don't necessarily think Angier had meant for Borden to witness Angier's drowning underneath the stage.
- The watertank has legitimate reason to be present somewhere backstage, because Angier also performs a Watertank Escape in his show. Hence no one would be too suspicious when Angier and his assistants are moving a watertank back and forth behind the curtains.
- Angier can use whatever he wants to drown himself in, so it's not a plothole.
- Regardless of what Angier uses to drown himself in (a glass watertank, or a non-see-through tank, or a glass watertank covered by a tarp around it), as soon as Borden would sneak under the stage to see where Angier would go after falling through the trapdoor, he would figure out that Angier was drowning. So it doesn't really matter to the course of the plot.
- Angier possibly positioned a watertank under the stage before the start of each show simply by duplicating his Watertank Escape tank with the Tesla Machine. Which would mean that even Angier's blind assistants wouldn't know how a watertank ended up underneath the trapdoor. It also means that Angier didn't have to go through the hassle of ordering 100 robust watertight crates from a carpenter/metal worker (who might find such an order rather suspicious) and arranging for their delivery, temporary storage, etc.
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You're forgetting the most important part. Cutter tells Angier that drowning was like 'going home'. He probably assumed it to be the most pleasant way to die, knowing that it was essentially himself being killed every night he wouldn't want it to be anything too barbaric
shareYou're forgetting the most important part.Is that meant in reply to me, or to the OP?
Cutter tells Angier that drowning was like 'going home'. He probably assumed it to be the most pleasant way to die, knowing that it was essentially himself being killed every night he wouldn't want it to be anything too barbaricYes, that's right. But the OP asked why did Angier use the watertank (a crate with glass windows) instead of a wooden or steel crate (without glass windows) for the drowning of his duplicates.
I see this as a bit of a plot device and/or plot hole that was used by the writers in order to incriminate Borden.
However, glass crates are see through
I see this as a bit of a plot device
/or plot hole
Cutter says it was the same as the box his wife drowned in. Listen carefully.
Without the glass, how would you know there was water in it?
silly question, my friend.
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