Remember stars Christopher Plummer as Zev Guttman, a recent widow suffering from dementia who is on a mission to find and kill a Nazi with fellow nursing home resident Max’s aid. Martin Landau plays Max, who knew Zev in Auschwitz. Atom Egoyan directed the ninety-four minute movie as a way to give older actors more opportunities to work. Unlike most movies that centralize the elderly, it does not insult the audience’s intelligence, and the characters feel textured and complex, not a cinematic construction of an elderly person. These are people who happen to be of a certain age.
Remember had me at the edge of my seat for the entire movie, especially in one scene during the middle when I kept saying out loud, “Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God.” Because I watch too many movies, I actually correctly guessed the overall outcome of the story. Because I am the only person in the world unimpressed with Christopher Nolan, think Memento, which I actually loved, without the reverse narrative structure gimmick. I prefer a linear chronological narrative because it is harder to hide a story’s flaws if the story is straight forward. After you finish watching this movie, if you rewatch it, which I did not, it still works. Egoyan made a detailed movie without hanging bells on those moments screaming, “Notice this! It is important!” He rewards viewers who pay attention, but you can just watch it to be entertained.
Based on a cursory web search on Remember’s reception, it seems as if it was not as critically well-received as it would have been if it was released post November 2016. Prescience is another sign of a great movie. The idea of Nazis in our midst was an idea that most people (if you are not a person that Nazis would not like) did not take seriously when it opened, but the premise attracted me to the movie. Some may understandably find it exploitive and distasteful to make a fictional and/or revenge movie on an actual historical event. I obviously defer to people who survived the Holocaust or their descendants, but it felt more in line with movies such as The House on Garibaldi Street, not Overlord or Inglorious Basterds, movies that elicited joy, but were far removed from reality. Before watching this movie, I did not know anything about Egoyan, but he is Armenian and has made films about the Armenian genocide, some of which are in my queue. It makes sense that he approaches this topic seriously. Because the acting and the story are his primary tools, not CGI or spectacle, this movie is closer to a character study with the same momentum as The Usual Suspects. Through process of elimination, we find out who is not a Nazi, but with more dread. Zev is not in any physical or mental condition to carry out this mission. He is a danger to himself and others so while I wanted him to succeed, I also wanted him not to make a mistake that could destroy his life or hurt an innocent person.
Remember does an amazing job of depicting society’s blind spots. Old is equated with harmless, and because the majority of the movie unfolds in the US, no one is horrified that a man suffering from dementia has a gun. We still feel some ambiguity that a man of his age who suffered a tremendous personal loss has decided to embark on a mission that he is ill suited to do. When Zev goes to sleep, he resets and does not remember where he is, what he is doing or that his wife is dead. Even though we never see her, she was his compass and without her, this mission and his friendship with Max are all he has that gives him purpose. Surprisingly the world treats Zev fairly decently though he seems like an easy mark. He is likeable, and people are eager to help him. In spite of his obvious bag of rocks, he has enough slyness in him to adapt to the challenges of any situation, and considering the obstacles that he overcomes which would be enough to stop me, a viewer has to wonder what a formidable man he was in his prime: the charm, the ease of navigating the world, the physicality.
Egoyan also has sardonic notes comparing and contrasting the characters who would like to think that they are a part of the master race and openly aligned with Nazis at one time or another. Their actual lives feel like excerpts of the grandparents of Destroyer’s characters: sordid, dark, lonely, pitiful lives on the edges of society. The constant question is if revenge is even worth it considering how these men are barely living if they are alive, which is ultimately answered in the affirmative, but death is a mercy for several of those candidates. The world is a rather dull, flavorless, interchangeable place even if you are not a Nazi: nursing homes, hotels, chain stores, bus and train depots. When we initially see Zev occuping a place, it has character, warmth and looks like a home. His son also has a beautiful home. By showing which characters are vibrantly comfortable in their skin and find a way to flourish and be unique in a land of conformity and depressing, dehumanizing sameness, Remember seems to be suggesting that a connection to the past, even a negative one, makes one live fully, but it also seems to be a visual Proverb. Zev always seems better than the shabbiest of his surroundings.
I never appreciated Christopher (Mr. Take Your Job) Plummer until he played J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World. Kevin Spacey played the role before he destroyed at least one life, his own. If only more of the world was as vain as Ridley Scott who did not want anyone distracting from the greatness of his movie, not motivated by some sense of morality, fired Spacey as quickly as you can say Bewitched’s Darren or Fresh Prince of Bel Air’s Aunt Vivian. Plummer had two weeks to master the part, and the then eighty-eight year old said that he was already prepared long before that because he tried to get the role, and he met Getty in the 60s. Plummer probably teleported on set already in full hair, makeup and wardrobe and proceeded to run acting laps around Mark Wahlberg. I can completely understand why Plummer would leap at the opportunity to play this character—at last, he gets center stage and can really flex his acting prowess.
Plummer carries the entire movie quite expertly and occupies the furthest corners of his character. He gives the same energy and level of commitment each time that he finds out that his wife died. He just nails the role at every moment giving exactly whatever emotional response a person would have in each moment, and after the movie finishes, when you reflect on certain moments of Remember, you will actually appreciate his performance even more. Watching him work with Landau was a real treat because you have two masters playing against each other. Plummer also did his own stunts, which includes tangoing with a German shepherd. Not on my best day would I do that stunt.
Remember’s journey is as much an exercise in empathy as revenge for the viewer and Zev. You may want to leave time to rewatch it again. I watched it more as a viewer and was able to turn off my brain, which is rare. Highly recommend it though there is some violence.