Even though I believe I only very briefly mentioned this film before in a much earlier post, after recent discussions in my psychology class I realized how much this creative and crazy film deserves a full post. Memento is a film written and directed by Christopher Nolan and it showcases Guy Pearce playing Leonard Shelby, a man who has no short-term memory. Even though he says in the film it is not amnesia, as I learned in my psychology class, Shelby actually has anterograde amnesia. Throughout the film Leonard tries to seek vengeance for the rape and murder of his wife by finding a “John G.” This process of detective work is hard for Shelby because of his anterograde amnesia, which makes him unable to remember new facts and memories.
The film does a wide variety of things to help accurately convey Shelby’s condition to the audience. Shelby can remember the events leading up to his wife’s murder but is unable to make new memories. To combat this he writes notes, tattoos his body, and takes Polaroid pictures so he can remember this information and find the mysterious “John G.” figure. It is still tough for Shelby especially since characters like Teddy and Natalie are telling me contrasting stories and information. These notes and reminders give Shelby help in “remembering” where he is in the case.
Another interesting thing the film does is present the story in two different sequences. One sequence is in color and is shown in reverse and the other sequence is in black and white and is shown in chronological order. These two sequences then converge at the end of the film and thus create one full story. This is done to put the audience in the main character’s shoes. By not being able to recall the events in the color sequence (since the audience does not what happened before them during their first viewing) they are experiencing short-term memory loss and Shelby’s inability to remember what happened after his wife’s death. To help further understand this “sujet” or presentation of the film Andy Klein for Salon magazine numbered the black and white timeline with the numbers 1-22 and the lettered the color timeline with the letters A-V. After the opening credits the sequence starts at 1 and is followed by V, 2, U, 3, T, 4, S and so on until finally 22/A and the end credits.
Two of my favorite moments from the film are when an event in Shelby’s life runs too long and he forgets where he is and what he is doing during it. For example he finds a wounded and injured man in his hotel room and asks him who did this to him only for the guy to respond, “you did!” Another great moment is when he is running through a trailer park and wonders what he is doing there. He sees a guy running on the other side of some trailers and thinks he must be pursuing that guy. He begins to chase him only to realize he is actually running away from him!
Memento is a crazy thrill ride directed by Christopher Nolan and a great film not only for a film or psychology student like I am but also for anyone in general. The film does a good job (especially for most Hollywood films) portraying psychological conditions like anterograde amnesia. While I could go on all day about unique and creative this film is many of you will probably forget about this post. But please do not forget to check out Memento when you have a chance over the holiday break. Believe me it will be a movie you will never forget!
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