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Memento

1/31/2013

9 Comments

 
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A man with severe anterograde amnesia struggles to separate the facts from lies on his quest to solve the mystery of his wife’s death.


Leonard Shelby is a happy man with a loving wife until a brutal home invasion robs him of his ability to form new memories. Now Leonard must unravel the mystery of his wife’s death using the only clues he has; notes, tattoos, and photographs. Despite living moment to moment, he is driven by revenge to find the man who attacked and raped his wife, while remaining vigilant that his condition leaves him vulnerable to exploitation. Leonard’s journey, and his anterograde amnesia, exposes the subjective nature of truth, memory, and meaning.    


Neuropsychological Review
Life Moment to Moment: Memento as a Case Study in Anterograde Amnesia
Graham Wicas 

Leonard Shelby wakes up in a hotel room. How, why, and when he arrived is a mystery to both Leonard and the viewer... 

Upon watching Memento the viewer has only slightly more insight into the events and back-story than the film’s protagonist. This has the intended effect of causing the viewer to relate more closely to the anxiety and uncertainty that are mainstays of people’s life with anterograde amnesia.

The film’s story structure and cinematic style creates a disorienting effect on the viewer that provides a visceral experience similar to the daily lives of people with anterograde amnesia. Anterograde amnesia is a condition where the brain is impaired in encoding new memories. Patients with anterograde amnesia may still remember the past but have problems recalling events (from a few to all events) that have happened since their amnesia began.  Leonard suffers from the worst kind of anterograde amnesia.  He recalls no new events.

Memento’s structure also plays an important role in creating this experience. The narrative operates backwards, working its way from end to beginning. Robbed of the sequential progression of events to which most people are accustomed, one’s understanding of reality become unsettled; an experience akin to that of people with anterograde amnesia who are constantly disoriented if they find themselves in an unfamiliar setting.

The viewer, just like Leonard Shelby, comes into the story with only the knowledge and understanding they had before the film began. In this sense the viewer is much like Leonard Shelby after his accident. The viewer is no more certain of the facts being presented.  Just like Leonard Shelby waking up to a new moment every time his thought changes, the viewer is placed on the same footing, exposed to a new piece of the puzzle with each passing vignette of his memory

Besides the attempts to make the viewer understand the nature and emotional experience of people with anterograde amnesia, it accurately depicts the challenges people with anterograde amnesia experience interacting with the world. Sammy Jenkins, a man with the same condition as Leonard, serves as an anecdotal foil for Leonard to explain his own condition to others. Sammy remembers complex skills, such as how to properly dose and administer insulin to his diabetic wife. Yet he is unable to learn even the simplest new tasks, or people he met after the accident. Leonard, when discussing Sammy, recalls meeting him on multiple occasions and was never recognized. The viewer observes this phenomenon when Leonard interacts with any of the other characters; he reintroduces himself, explains his condition, and tells the story of Sammy Jenkins to further explain the nature of his amnesia.

In reality people with anterograde amnesia interact with people in much the same fashion. The famous case of anterograde amnesia, is that of Henry Molaison, know as H.M., reportedly always introduced himself to his psychologist, Brenda Milner, despite having worked closely with her for decades (Squire, 2009). Yet this point is where the film diverges from reality. People with anterograde amnesia are not necessarily aware of their condition. Leonard Shelby writes notes to himself so that he can keep track of events and understand the facts. Patients with anterograde amnesia, however, such as British conductor, Clive Wearing, do not trust notes they write because they cannot recall having written them (Sacks, 2007). In fact Clive Wearing has a journal. Despite writing constantly, he never acknowledges having written any of the other entries despite them being in his handwriting (Sacks, 2007).  For the pretense of the story it is necessary to believe that Leonard could successfully use his patchwork system of notes and tattoos to navigate the world but in reality people with anterograde amnesia are highly dependent on others for their care and safety.

An unfortunate aspect of Memento is how individuals can easily manipulate people with anterograde amnesia. Leonard suspects he is being manipulated but he is never quite certain. His vulnerability is evident in a screen where Natalie, a bartender and girlfriend of a local drug dealer, allows Leonard to take a sip from a mug of beer that contains the spit from all the bar’s patrons, Leonard included. Yet only moments before Leonard had witnessed the mug being passed around to collect each bar patron’s contribution of mucus. Given that patients with anterograde amnesia cannot encode explicit memories, a disgusting test such as this would prove successful.

While the film definitively shows the inability of people with severe anterograde amnesia to form new memories, it also touches on types of learning for which they are still capable. Leonard says that the insurance company was able to dismiss Sammy’s insurance claim because test measuring his ability to make unconscious associations indicated that his condition was psychological. The test in the film involved having Sammy touch electrified shapes in an attempt to prove he could learn through association. While, in reality, this would be an unethical means of testing a patient with an impaired memory, it is true that patients with severe anterograde amnesia can experience non-verbal learning on simple tasks (Burgess, 2001).  Although they can improve on nonverbal tasks, the performance of patients with anterograde amnesia is still abnormal.  Memento is highly recommended for it’s educational value.

As a film, in and of itself, Memento quite enjoyable and earns high marks for its entertainment value. The disorienting effects of the story’s  structure and Leonard’s condition, add a heightened sense of mystery and suspense to this crime noir.  The 113 minutes fly past as we are pulled deeper into Leonard’s moment to moment world and the steady momentum with which the film moves.

Given its genre, Memento is filled with all the typical aspects of a crime story: murder, violence, sexuality, and intrigue.  The combination of these elements make it a great film but should be considered when determining whether this movie would be appropriate for viewing by children younger than thirteen-years-old. Some viewers might take offense to the way Leonard is manipulated by people into committing violence for their own ends. Yet without the mixture of these elements coupled with the confusion caused by Leonard’s condition, Memento would not be the classic that it has become.

9 Comments
Mary McGinty
2/13/2014 07:39:47 am

This movie, "Memento", is about a man who believes that his wife was raped and murdered by a man, who also struck him over the head and caused him to lose his memory. He is now on a search for the guy, who he only knows is named John G. After being struck in the head, the main character, Leonard Shelby, suffers from Anterograde Amnesia. This condition is a type of amnesia in which the individual is able to retain memories that were stored before the brain injury, but is no longer able to store new memories. In order to remember things that happen and people that he meets, Leonard takes pictures of everything and keeps notes on the pictures, while also tattooing himself with important facts about his wife's murderer.
In psych 101 class, we watched a video about a man who has short term memory loss, and cannot so much as remember who he is or who anyone around him is. This movie reminded me of this video because the man in the video keeps a diary of things that he wants to remember. He is able to remember certain things such as the love he has for his wife and how go about daily life, but does not remember why he is doing certain activities or how he got to a certain place.
The movie Memento is a good depiction of anterograde amnesia and does a good job at showing how much of a challenge it is to go about daily life when you are unable to store new memories.

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Jierui Yan
2/7/2015 01:59:47 pm

Memento is a good film. The film show us a good example of anterograde amnesia. Amnesia is loss of memory. The memory can be either wholly or partially lost due to the extent of damage that was caused. Lenny was a typical amnesia patients and he try to continue his life like normal. He continue his life by taking memo and picture helping with memory details. Under amnesia condition, Lenny making hard decision with trusting anyone. In the movie, Lenny was a patien can only holding one day memory after the accident, and he make up his memory for himself by writing fake memo.

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Yanjun Li
2/10/2015 12:12:30 am

This movie is really great. However, it is a little confused since the movie was moving on with two lines, a line of the past, and a line of the future to the past. This way of narrating story, of my concern, is a perfect way to tell the story because the main character has very broken memory. Also, the main character has a very confusing timeline. He has self criticized too much, because he has no idea if whatever he wrote on his body or photos are right or wrong. It could be right at first but it became weird after. This movie really use a special way to present how fragile and broken those people's life are. It's a really good movie.

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Jonathan Balsamo
2/25/2015 06:37:21 am

Have you ever wrote something down on your hand so you wouldn't forget?
Leonard Shelby, a once happily married man had his life destroyed by 2 men. One man, strangled and raped his wife while the other clubbed him over the head giving him a severe case of anterograde amnesia. The man who clubbed him gotten away and Shelby began his long investigation of what really occurred that day. As a result of this incident, Shelby has no short term memory and will forget any detail from the previous day upon waking up. By taking Polaroid photos and covering himself with tattoos, Shelby is able to conduct an investigation using his "mementos" to constantly refresh his memory. The audience is left without any definitive ending since Shelby's investigation appeared to be tampered with to some extent, whether it was Teddy lying to him(he told him he avenged his wife's death, but got $200,000 in drug money), self denial(being aware of his anterograde amnesia is a sign that he doesn't have anterograde amnesia), or any other possible source of error. However, Shelby believes that Teddy was one of the men responsible for his wive's death and kills him.

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fengfan chen
3/1/2015 12:48:47 pm

Memento movie review by fengfan Chen
I think this is one of the best psychological movie about short memory problems. The main character in this movie Leonard Shelby suffers from a very crazy disability. His memory lose every 5minuts. I think he should go to hospital. He should not trust anyone but doctor at this point. By philosopher, John Locke (1632-1704) who argues that consciousness is key to the self and, as such, continuity of consciousness is central to the enduring survival of a person over time. If someone like Leonard Shelby, he basically lost his consciousness every 5 minutes it is really dangerous for not only himself but others in this society. This movie lead us reconsider about how important memory mean to human being also lead us to think about people with memory disable what kind of life it could be. It is pretty much enhance our imagination.

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Bayley Winkel
3/2/2015 07:17:19 am

Dozens and Dozens of films explore the idea of amnesia. The aspect of someone losing past memories or unable to create new memories allows for some very unique movie opportunities. Memento however, is even more unique. No other movie that explores the idea of amnesia displays the theme of confusion as well as Memento does. Not only does the main character, Leonard, experience anterograde Amnesia, the movie is produced in such a way that it is as if the audience are also victims of Amnesia. The movie is about Leonard, a man who has lost his wife to murder, and his attempt to find his wife's killer. The movie starts from end (the killing of the murderer) and travels to the beginning (wife’s murder) through a series of flashbacks. This is ironic in the sense that victims of anterograde Amnesia can't or have trouble forming new memories since the event that caused their amnesia. That means the present, to them, is the clearest. As time goes on these short-term memories will certainly be lost. Leonard works through his condition by tattooing himself, taking pictures, and writing important details about his quest down on paper so he can constantly re-learn his situation. By the end of the movie, the audience has made it back to the moment when Leonard's wife was killed. Everything that the movie went through, all the little details and facts, finally make sense and the audience is able to see the movie as a whole instead of small flashbacks. Overall the movie is quite unique. It puts the audience in the mind of an amnesia victim and gives them the opportunity to see what living like that might be like. I really enjoyed this movie and I can now see why it is so highly regarded.

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Matthew Lieve
3/3/2016 02:14:50 pm

A typical description of the human condition would be a complex array of experiences obtained over time that make up one’s ‘self’. What becomes of a person when this ‘self’ is no longer evolving? Memento is an exceptionally well made film, and a fairly accurate narrative detailing the struggles that anyone suffering from anterograde amnesia may face. The main character is obsessed with his past, a common occurrence in those afflicted with this ailment, as anything new seems alien. An extreme example, as stated in this review, is the fact that one cannot trust notes left to themselves in their own handwriting. Viewers are left in the dark during this film to instill the same discomfort that someone with this condition faces daily. We watch helplessly as he makes mistakes that he is completely unaware of, maybe mercifully so, due to his inability to recall new events. Most intriguing is the difference between two types of memory; declarative, memory associated with conscious learning, and procedural, memory considered to not require conscious thought [1]. This is exemplified by the electroshock test he is forced to endure. His ability to remember electrified shapes indicates a memory completely inaccessible by the conscious mind. Given this information, to describe someone living with anterograde amnesia as incapable of creating memories would be inaccurate. This person is fully capable of learning, but in a way that is not readily apparent. The ‘self’ is still evolving, however one’s ‘self’ is not aware of the changes.
[1] Colman, Andrew M. A Dictionary Of Psychology. Oxford Reference. 2015. 2 March 2016

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matt fleischman
6/11/2017 01:25:30 am

It wasn't mentioned in the body of this review, but the memory phenomenon known as confabulation also plays a major role in the events of the story. "Don't Believe His Lies" is the crucial note that leads to Teddy's death, but it's written in anger and denial at the (possibly fabricated) revelation of the true nature of Sammy Jankis. If Teddy's account is accurate it would indicate that Leonard suffers not only from anterograde amnesia, but also from dissociative disorder and elaborate false memories. These symptoms on their own are all typical of severe emotional or neurological trauma, both of which Leonard could have suffered. Ultimately, like Leonard, the audience doesn't have quite enough information to determine what really happened that night.

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Male Ontario link
5/15/2021 01:45:03 pm

Thanks great poost

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