Memento 2000 is an interesting film which revealed the ending at the first scene. The protagonist - Leonard, or Lenny, has a short-term memory where he could not remember things that happened after the tragedy of his wife's death. He was determined to discover the second murderer so that he could avenge for his wife. As new memories were unable to retain in his mind, he tried several ways to store his current memory such as taking photographs, tattooing and writing notes. The film was shot and edited in a brilliant way as the monochromatic scenes which are in order and the colorful scenes which are in reverse direction intercept perfectly throughout the film. The two story lines finally crossed together as Leonard took photograph of Jimmy who had passed out.
Review
There are five scenes that I like in the film Memento
(2000). The first scene is when Leonard took off his shirt in his room and
showed all his tattoos. There were many notes written on his body such as "Remember Sammy Jankis", "find him and kill him","car license number SG1371U" and etc.
Leonard said that he was different from his client, Sammy, who was unable to
retain his memory himself. Leonard was very determined that he could trust on the
notes ,tattoos and photographs he had recorded down to help him searching for the murderer. This is an amazing scene as someone who was suffering from
short-term condition could figure out his own way to construct his own "schema". Leonard found himself a new way and new goal of living despite of his disability.
The second scene that I am fascinated about is when Natalie took advantage on Leonard's condition. In the beginning it seemed that she was a good person who tried to help Leonard due to sympathy. But this scene showed that she could no longer tolerate with his condition and start to humiliate Leonard and his wife by saying "I can say whatever I want and you won't remember. I can call your wife a fucking whore and we could still be friends.". Leonard was searching for pencil to record this incident down, only to find out it was futile because Natalie had kept all of the pencils in her house. She enjoyed tormenting with Leonard's condition and using him as a tool to protect herself from Dodd. She left her house to wait for a while, and soon Leonard had already forgotten what had happened. She then victimized herself, claiming that the bruise on her face was from Dodd who was trying to kill her. This scene portrayed the reality that disabled people are always being taken for granted and bullied.
Besides, the scene where Mrs Jankis conducted her ultimate test on Sammy is the third scene which touches me. Mrs Jankis had tried out many methods to test whether her husband could regain his memory. Although many efforts were put, there were of useless. Mrs Jankis went to meet Leonard to ask about her husband's issue. Leonard stereotyped her that she wanted to claim the money for her husband's treatment fee, but she was in fact concerned about the possibility for the "old Sammy" to come back. When Leonard told Mrs Jankis that Sammy could construct new memories, she greeted him thanks and left with tears. She adjust her watch over and over again, telling her husband it was time to have injection. Unfortunately, he could not remember anything after three trials. Mrs Jankis was overdosed and put into a long coma, leaving Sammy alone and helpless. Leonard then realized that Sammy was not pretending to be sick, but trying to fit into the social world.
The fourth scene that surprised me is when Teddy told Leonard that he had actually killed the second murderer. Teddy showed Leonard the photograph where he looked overjoy and pointed his chest with his finger. Teddy explained that the "John G" he was looking for was dead one year ago, and over the year he was actually hallucinating another "John G" so that he could motivate himself to live with an aim. Teddy seemed to be a good friend who helped out Leonard through his hard time, but ended up he was also a self-centered person who took advantage on Leonard's disability to carry out his bad deeds. He was an undercover cop who used Leonard to get unlawful money and eliminate people who tried to block his way. This particular scene shows the struggles of a person who has short-term memory that could only live in his past tragedy. Leonard even noted down "Don't believe his lies" to give himself an excuse of murdering the next victim.
The last scene that I like the most is when Leonard was told that there was no one called "Sammy". "Sammy" was an imaginary character who was mentally constructed by Leonard. Leonard imagined that there was a client who had a similar experience with him, which were involving in a car accident, suffering from short-term memory and having a diabetic wife. In fact, there was no one called "Sammy". Leonard tattooed "remember Sammy Jankis" on his hand so that he could avoid from blaming himself, as he was the one who actually killed his wife. Teddy mentioned that "everyone lies to themselves to be happy" because Leonard only chose to accept what he wanted to be truth.
In conclusion, Memento is a film that shows how the disabled people are being taken advantage. Anyone who seems to be reliable is in fact cheating on you. The audience are fostered to doubt everything they see throughout the film. Memento's denouement is made inescapable by the fact that it has already happened (Errigo, 2015, para.6)
Reference
1. Errigo, A. (2015). Memento review. Retrieved from
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/memento/review/
Besides, the scene where Mrs Jankis conducted her ultimate test on Sammy is the third scene which touches me. Mrs Jankis had tried out many methods to test whether her husband could regain his memory. Although many efforts were put, there were of useless. Mrs Jankis went to meet Leonard to ask about her husband's issue. Leonard stereotyped her that she wanted to claim the money for her husband's treatment fee, but she was in fact concerned about the possibility for the "old Sammy" to come back. When Leonard told Mrs Jankis that Sammy could construct new memories, she greeted him thanks and left with tears. She adjust her watch over and over again, telling her husband it was time to have injection. Unfortunately, he could not remember anything after three trials. Mrs Jankis was overdosed and put into a long coma, leaving Sammy alone and helpless. Leonard then realized that Sammy was not pretending to be sick, but trying to fit into the social world.
The fourth scene that surprised me is when Teddy told Leonard that he had actually killed the second murderer. Teddy showed Leonard the photograph where he looked overjoy and pointed his chest with his finger. Teddy explained that the "John G" he was looking for was dead one year ago, and over the year he was actually hallucinating another "John G" so that he could motivate himself to live with an aim. Teddy seemed to be a good friend who helped out Leonard through his hard time, but ended up he was also a self-centered person who took advantage on Leonard's disability to carry out his bad deeds. He was an undercover cop who used Leonard to get unlawful money and eliminate people who tried to block his way. This particular scene shows the struggles of a person who has short-term memory that could only live in his past tragedy. Leonard even noted down "Don't believe his lies" to give himself an excuse of murdering the next victim.
The last scene that I like the most is when Leonard was told that there was no one called "Sammy". "Sammy" was an imaginary character who was mentally constructed by Leonard. Leonard imagined that there was a client who had a similar experience with him, which were involving in a car accident, suffering from short-term memory and having a diabetic wife. In fact, there was no one called "Sammy". Leonard tattooed "remember Sammy Jankis" on his hand so that he could avoid from blaming himself, as he was the one who actually killed his wife. Teddy mentioned that "everyone lies to themselves to be happy" because Leonard only chose to accept what he wanted to be truth.
In conclusion, Memento is a film that shows how the disabled people are being taken advantage. Anyone who seems to be reliable is in fact cheating on you. The audience are fostered to doubt everything they see throughout the film. Memento's denouement is made inescapable by the fact that it has already happened (Errigo, 2015, para.6)
Reference
1. Errigo, A. (2015). Memento review. Retrieved from
https://www.empireonline.com/movies/memento/review/
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