The mind is a funny place. It’s two main functions are to control the body and create memories, and sometimes it’s not always perfect at both. As some of us have read, back in the seventies, a popular method of hypno-therapy centered around repressed memories. Memories so deeply traumatic that the very act of witnessing them brought so much pain that to witness them again within the annals of the mind would be too painful to grasp. But unfortunately many well-intentioned, but possibly over ambitious, therapists ended up implanting their theories as to what their patients’ memories were made of.

But memories do not always need the help of an outside hand to taint and twist them, we tend to do a good job of it ourselves. Think about the last time you forgot something and later on denied that you could have possibly forgotten it because it was just too impossible. Why? Because the will of your mind won over your memory so that you fashioned in your own mind a memory created out of your own denial.

In other words, memories can’t be trusted, as Guy Pearce’s character points out in Memento. So he does memory one better, he writes all that he experiences. Not only does he write them down, he tattoos the most important facts on his body! Why? Because of a tragic accident on the night his wife was raped and murdered, he can no longer process short-term memories. Every fifteen minutes, everything he’s experienced will be wiped away from his mind like an eraser to a chalkboard. Not a very helpful disability when you’re collecting clues to try and find the guy who killed your wife. And so he carries around a Polaroid to take pictures of those people he needs to remember, and HOW he needs to remember them.

Guy Pearce does a wonderful job in the film. A weaker actor would not have had us believing the character's story and we would have had to depend on the plot to have us his story and his reasons for finding his wife's killer. Guy has the look of a man with a purpose. With his tight, set jaw and the determined look in his eyes, we are compelled to believe everything he says.

Joe Pantlioano and Carrie Anne Moss, otherwise known as Matrix Alumni, help supply more of the twists that make the film such an eye-popper. Joe is of course his usual audience attention-grabber and in fine form here.

The films backward “progression” aids the audience into understanding the idea being taught through the film: That our perceptions can’t be trusted, same as our memories. We can’t even trust ourselves when it comes to facing our pasts. Repressed memories exist for a reason and we’ll do everything in our power to keep from facing them, including making up an alternate reality to make ourselves feel better and go on as if nothing bad ever happened.


Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: VHS
Video Occasion: Fit for Friday Evening
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age