Alternative Insight

Memento
A Challenging Film


Memento challenges--to see and listen carefully and use the information to compose a plausible story. By relating the story backwards in time, Memento creates an experience with a historical perspective. A singular media moment of information does not frame the viewpoint. With the short term memory losses of its protagonist vividly available to the audience, the viewer has the past events to unravel the puzzling actions of the protagonist's chaotic present. What you see is not what you get. What you get is more than a drama of murder and revenge.

The Film
Leonard, " not Lennie" Shelby, who presents himself as "a former insurance investigator and, please, not insurance salesman," often pleadingly states; "I have a condition. I can remember details before the death of my wife, but I have total short term memory loss after that event." Convinced that his wife has been raped and murdered by two men, one of whom he shot during the tragic occurrence, Leonard continually seeks the other murderer and avers to avenge his wife's death. He knows the initials of his antagonist as "JG," and also knows his car registration. He compensates for his short term memory loss with a plan. He places information in a temporary memory by making notes of all essential happenings. He transfers the most essential information to a permanent memory by tattooing the data on his ink stained body. A Polaroid camera enables him to record and save images --people and places.

The film begins with Leonard accompanying conniving policemanTeddy to a vacant building. Leonard looks at Teddy's Polaroid photograph and reads the caption he has applied to the photo: "He is the one. Kill him!" Leonard shoots Teddy.

How did Leonard lure Teddy to the building? Teddy has been shadowing Leonard for a long time. He believes Leonard has something for him at the vacant building where the two have been before. He agrees to meet Leonard at the known spot.

Why did Leonard believe that Teddy is "the one?" Natalie, a bar hostess and drug dealing intermediary has given him a license with Teddy's picture and the name John Gammel (JG) on the license. Teddy's car registration also fits the description of the long sought murderer.

Why did Natalie obtain the information for Leonard? Natalie tells Leonard he has done her a favor and she wants to help him. Yet, she knows Teddy, evidently has some involvement with him, and seems to want to get him out of the way.

What favor did Leonard do for Natalie? Leonard has pulverized and tied up a man named Dodd in his motel room at the Discount Inn. Dodd had tried to shoot him. "Was I chasing him, or was he chasing me?" Leonard says to himself. He calls Teddy, who assists in dumping the injured Dodd outside of town.

Why was getting rid of Dodd a "favor for Natalie?" Natalie convinced Leonard that a man named Dodd attacked and wants to kill her. Dodd wants her "boyfriend's" drugs and money, which Dodd believes he is owed.

A brief and significant interlude to the scenario.
An additional story accompanies the retracing in time. Leonard speaks into the telephone to..another person?..a recording machine?.. or a dead line? and relates his insurance investigation of Sammy Jankis, "another person" who suffers from short term memory loss. Sammy demanded insurance compensation for his physical impairment. The events occurred before the death of Leonard's wife and Leonard can remember all the details. Insurance investigator Leonard Shelby successfully convinces that Sammy's condition is mental and not physical and the insurance company is not liable. Leonard notes that Sammy shows some recognition of people he has only recently met and that Sammy has not devised any plan to overcome his handicap, except to burden his loving and diabetic wife with his problem. The wife is distraught. Can she bear to see her "beloved" Sammy in this condition and without the finances from the insurance policy to sustain their economic life?

In sympathy, Leonard meets the suffering diabetic wife in his office. She wants to know if Leonard concluded that Sammy had been faking, and if she can retain hope that he will be well again. Leonard has prepared himself not to say anything that might permit the wife to reopen the insurance case. He remains non-committal and does not give her much hope. His recalcitrant attitude has a devastating effect. Sammy's wife is unable to bear to see Sammy permanently in his condition and commits suicide. She manages this act by convincing Sammy to give her a fatal overdose of insulin injections. Sammy , who has been administering the injections, has no memory of when he gives them and obeys her notices that it is to time for another frequent injection. The last time that Leonard meets Sammy is after Sammy has been committed to a mental institution.

Return to the Retreating Scenario

How did Natalie convince Leonard that a man named Dodd had attacked her?
Leonard is waiting for Natalie at her house. When she comes in, she immediately becomes aggressive with Leonard, insults his dead wife, and arouses his anger until Leonard starts hitting her and bruises her lip. She leaves him and goes to her car. Several minutes later she emerges and enters the house again. Supposedly, Leonard has no memory of the previous event and asks her how she became bruised. "It was Dodd, Dodd! He did it. He is out to kill me. Here is his picture." Natalie asks Leonard to defend her and get rid of Dodd. Leonard is reluctant but still accepts the information of where he can meet Dodd.

What is the relation between Leonard and Natalie?
Leonard wakes in Natalie's bed. They have spent the night together. Leonard tells Natalie of his loss and mission. Natalie says they have a lot in common. Her boyfriend Jimmy Grantz is missing, and she has a mission to find him or the person who is responsible for his disappearance. When Leonard leaves Natalie's home, Teddy confronts him. He tells Leonard not to trust Natalie and not to stay with her. He gives Leonard the address of the Discount Motel and politely asks Leonard where he is getting the money to pay his bills. Leonard responds that he is living off the insurance policy from his wife's death. He goes to the Discount Motel where the clerk takes advantage of Leonard's memory loss condition and double books his room. Leonard pays with cash and doesn't request receipts.

How did Leonard meet Natalie?
Leonard finds himself in someone else's car and clothes. In the pocket is an address of a bar and the name Natalie. Upon driving to the back of the bar, Leonard meets a woman disposing of garbage. She looks into the car, starts to say, "Hello Jimmy," and then apologizes for the mistake. Leonard enters the bar and is followed by the woman, who is Natalie. After a drink and conversation, Natalie invites Leonard to come to her home.

How Leonard obtained Jimmy's car brings the film to a close.
Leonard and Teddy are at a deserted location, the same one where Leonard eventually kills Teddy. Leonard has Jimmy Grantz's clothes. He also has Teddy's car keys which he tosses into the deep grass so Teddy cannot follow him. Leonard has Jimmy's car keys and proceeds to transfer the little he has in his own car to Jimmy Grantz's car. He opens the car trunk and doesn't wince at an open suitcase of thousands of dollars (200 thousand to be exact). He drives off and leaves Teddy who shouts for Leonard to help find his keys.

How did Leonard obtain Jimmy's clothes?
Leonard waits for Jimmy Grantz in a deserted building. When Jimmy arrives, Leonard beats him mercilessly. Without specifically stating his purpose, Leonard asks Jimmy to remove his clothes and take his own clothes. He then kills Jimmy. Teddy suddenly arrives and confronts Leonard who shows Teddy that he has killed Jimmy. Leonard has Jimmy's gun and holds him off. Teddy, thinking that Leonard is prepared to kill him, tells him the "truth." He had in the past helped locate a man whom Leonard suspected of being involved with his wife and whom Leonard eventually killed. Leonard's diabetic wife died of an overdose of insulin and the police suspected Leonard. And Sammy's wife, why continue berating about her death. Sammy didn't have a wife. Leonard listens to Teddy's soliloquy with aplomb. "Do I lie to myself to be happy?" Leonard questions Teddy. "In your case, Teddy, I will." He searches his repertoire of photos and locates a Polaroid of Teddy with the caption, "Don't trust him. He lies."

How did Leonard come to believe that Jimmy Grant was "the JG" and know where to find him and what prompted to Teddy arrive at the deserted location??
In the near final scene Teddy, identified as Police Officer John Gammel, is talking with Leonard. He tells Leonard that the man he is looking for is a drug dealer meeting someone for a deal and a huge exchange of money. Leonard listens interestedly and wastes no time in going to the location given to him to meet Jimmy Grantz.

The final scene
The final scene that precedes Leonard's meeting with Teddy has Leonard in his car suddenly noticing a tattoo parlor. The brakes screech, the car stops and Leonard enters the tattoo parlor.

So, what is the actual scenario?
The conventional look at the puzzling scenario follows the story forward. Leonard Shelby, insurance salesman, has his life destroyed by the brutal rape and murder of his loving wife. The shock of the incident causes him to lose his short term memory. He has nothing left but to find the surviving killer and avenge his wife's death. In his mission, he meets inhabitants of the margins of the underworld who are quick to prey on his condition --even to solicit his unconscious support in homicide.

The clues and facts support another scenario.

The Clues and Facts
(1) Leonard is a drifter, wandering in a car from motel to motel. He has no stable life and an irrational existence.
(2) Someone with his short term memory loss could not possible wander alone.The person would need daily support for even trivial tasks. If personal support were not available the person would have to be institutionalized.
(3) Leonard kills mercilessly, without knowing with certainty if the person he kills is positively guilty of the crime he states he is avenging. He commits three homicides.
(4) Leonard must know that the money he is using is not from an insurance policy. He pays with cash, and plenty of it. He has no semblance of a bank account.
(5) Teddy has contradicted many of Leonard's trusted beliefs concerning his wife, her death and Sammy's wife and death. Since these events occurred during Leonard's life of instant recall, Teddy has no reason to lie. He must be telling the truth
(6) When Leonard opens the trunk of Jimmy Grantz's car he isn't surprised to find the suitcase with bundles of money. He knows the money is there. He has a contrived reason to assume a new identity by taking Jimmy's clothes and automobile.

A more plausible scenario
Leonard Shelby is a psychopathic killer. With the assistance of devious police officer John Grammel, who is involved in drug dealing, he has already murdered someone he suspects of being involved with his wife. Acquaintinceship with Sammy Jankis, a person successfully faking a short term memory loss condition, motivates Shelby to use the same type of condition as part of an ingenious plan to murder his unfaithful and diabetic wife. He forces her to take overdoses of insulin and then pleads he can't remember when he gave her the shots. Similar to many criminals he conveniently fails to remember details that are incriminating and unpleasant. His anxiety and cluttered mind bring him to his "condition," but not entirely. He remembers what he wants to remember.

Contact with Teddy leads him into the drug world. After he learns of the drug deal with Jimmy Grantz, he goes to intercept the deal and obtain the money. He tosses away Teddy's keys in order to prevent Teddy from following him and obtaining the money. He tries to assume a new identity and possibly use the money for further drug deals. He finds Natalie, a known drug intermediary.

Natalie knows that Leonard has eliminated her friend Jimmy and that Leonard also has the money. She plots to obtain it. She guides Leonard into a trap with an associate Dodd. When that fails, she decides to solicit Leonard to murder Teddy, the other person who has been involved in the drug deals. After that, she will try to to obtain the money from Leonard. Her obsession alerts Leonard to the dangers to him and he is glad to oblige. The beginning of the film is the end. Leonard Shelby removes his shadowing accomplice from bothering him again.

Excerpts from a news article on the official Memento site predict a sequel to Leonard Shelby's deeds. The entire "news report" can be found at: http://www.otnemem.com/

Note: The Memento site loads slowly. Best to finish reading this article before viewing the "news article."

Photograph sparks Murder Investigation

Municipal police initiated a murder investigation Wednesday based on evidence found in a local motel room which police are describing as a photograph of a dead body...
Police were called in Monday after cleaning staff at the Discount Inn reported finding suspicious items in one of the rooms. The man who had been staying in the room, identified by police as Leonard Shelby..

Little is known about Shelby himself, but a man by the same name was reported missing from a Bay-area psychiatric facility in September of 1998.

Is that all?
Does Memento, a cinematic achievement that entertains and puzzles, also contain significant subliminal messages that arouse our intellectual curiosity? Of course a viewer can go too far in reading too much into any media presentation. Memento's originality is staggering and it must penetrate further. Whether it is intentional or unconscious, Memento must be more than an intriguing tale of murder and revenge.

The drug world that infects American society and defies solution is aptly portrayed. It consists of those at the margin of society who are shielded by a small portion of law enforcement. The law does not appear in the film. It is disinterested in the homicidal activities of the criminal world as long as those activities are confined within that world. Leonard Shelby can wander and act with impunity as long as he doesn't interfere with the general public.The film shows the failures of concern and proper treatment for inhibiting conditions, leaving unfortunate individuals open to exploitation by a part of society that exists by taking advantage and by double dealing.

By letting short term memory loss guide him through life, Shelby echoes the short term memory loss that guides criminal responses to questions in court room trials. His convenient memory loss reminds us of the convenient memory lapses of respected citizens and government officials in their testimony before congressional committees.

Memento's depiction of short term memory loss will be a long term memory, a classic of vital and revealing cinema.

alternativeinsight
june 1, 2001

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