"Doctor Strange" is Marvel's latest comic book adaptation, and, in my opinion, is one of the best. The film is not only visually pleasing, with beautiful special effects and mind-bending magical fights, but also emotionally stimulating. The character of Doctor Strange, portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch in arguably his best role, undergoes a riveting emotional journey, going from an arrogant neurosurgeon to a humbled master of mystics. While the magic in the movie is truly amazing and awe-inspiring, it isn't what makes the movie magical. The real magic of "Doctor Strange" lies in the underlying message of the film: loss isn't the end, but the beginning.
In the film, as in the comics, Dr. Steven Strange is a brilliant, cocky neurosurgeon, whose arrogance causes many people to disdain him. After he gets into a car accident, he suffers severe nerve damage in his hands, and wastes away his fortune undergoing several surgeries so he can fix his hands and go back to his "perfect" life. Finally, he finds the Kamar-tag and the Ancient One, who offers to teach Strange how to channel energy from other dimensions, which he could use to fix his hands if he so desired.
Throughout the film, we see Strange struggle with being able to do magic, and see him growing even more frustrated with his hands. At one point, when the Ancient One points out that Strange is getting better at magic, Strange remarks, "and yet my hands still shake." And at another point during the film, Strange is forced to choose between fixing his hands or helping protect the world, which would mean he'd never have perfect hands again.
The important thing not him choosing, but the fact that he has options. Early in the film, Strange was under the firm belief that his life was over because he could no longer be a neurosurgeon, and was willing to do anything and everything to restore his hands. Near the end, however, Dr. Strange is presented with the option, but he would lose everything he'd worked for in the mystic arts, and would likely return to the arrogant surgeon he was before.
This, to me, speaks leagues. I think the message underlying this decision is incredibly important. Even though Strange could choose to heal himself, he would have to give up the ability to help the world on a larger scale, and would likely lose the humility and love he found along the way. This also shows that not all things that seem like endings are actual endings. There is life after trauma and change, even if it is one we never even imagined. Just because we lost something, doesn't mean we lost our lives. That lesson, in my opinion, is more magical than any spell cast in the movie, although those were awesome, too.
