Memory separates human beings from animals. Who we are is shaped as much by our experiences as by our environment. Memory can also be unreliable, not to mention easily influenced. Ask three people to describe the same event, and none of those accounts will be the same. . Memento is very much concerned with all aspects of memory, especially the manipulation of it, and many who see it as one of the best films will remember this endlessly fascinating, wonderfully open-ended film.
Memento is a great film, and, as an added bonus, it has a tremendous ’’replay ability’’, meaning that subsequent viewings are almost as rewarding as the first. Memento stars Australian actor Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a former insurance investigator and crime victim who are trying to find the man who raped and murdered his wife (Jorja Fox). He wants revenge through execution. Nothing less will satisfy him. Leonard has no short-term memory. During the attack that ended his wife’s life, Leonard suffered brain damage. Now, although his long-term memory is fine, he can’t remember any recent events. He can meet the same person a hundred times and will not know their name or who they are. Leonard relies upon a series of annotated Polaroid snapshots - not exactly the ideal tool by which to seek out a killer who even the police can not locate.
Along the way, Leonard is helped by Teddy (Joe Palantonio), who is always on hand to offer advice, and he becomes involved with the mysterious Natalie (Carrie-Ann Moss), whose motives may not be as straightforward as they initially appear to be. Memento is brilliant and has innovative structure. The story starts at the end and finishes near the beginning. The main narrative is presented as a series of three-to-eight minute segments, each of which end where the previous one began. Although this approach might at first seems confusing, it doesn’t take long to get used to it, and to understand how well it works with this material.
The backwards presentation of the film allows us to get into the mindset of the main character. Like Leonard, we do not have a clear indication of what happened before the current segment of time. We know some things from the past, but not the recent past. Like him, we are presented with numerous cryptic clues, some of which may mean something other than what they initially appear to represent. Memento builds to a surprising yet completely logical finale, and there’s plenty of suspense along the way to keep the viewer riveted. Those who enjoyed the plot of The Sixth Sense in retrospect will be delighted by Memento, which only reveals the entire landscape when the end credits start rolling.
Unlike The Sixth Sense, however, Memento does not rely upon an easily predicted twist ending to give the storyline meaning. This movie is constructed as a series of clever and logical revelations. Memento represents the past as a vacuum. Bill Murray’s character in the 1993 film Groundhog Day has multiple memories of a single time period. Here, Leonard has none. Lead actor Guy Pearce gives an astounding performance as a man struggling to avoid being manipulated in a world where he can easily become anyone’s pawn.