Movie Report

Psychology of Memento

In the film Memento , written and directed by Christopher Nolan , Guy Pearce plays a character by the name of Lenoard who has lost all aspects of his short term memory . He can no longer remember anything that happened in his life since he was supposedly attacked and his wife was raped and killed . Lenny has a psychotic dual relationship with a Character named Sammy , whom he remembers from the past . Sammy had claimed to contract the same dis that Lenny has throughout the film . The entire film is played

out from the end to the beginning , in segments starting with Lenny always unaware of where he is or how he got there . The film 's structure plays with the thin line between rational and delusion in an authentic enough way to encompass the audience

The more interesting part of the entire film are the coping strategies which Lenny and Sammy use to handle their dis . Lenny tattoos statements on his body that he wants to remember . One of the more significant statements that he reflects on throughout the film is remember Sammy Jenkis . This is actually used to glide the audience into his black and white flash backs which eventually blend into color to create the film 's climax . Lenny also remembers things by saving mementos . There is a scene where he hides in a motel and waits to jump a man , realizing he will forget before the man gets their , he keeps an empty liquor bottle near by to hit the man over the head . The irony of this is presented when Lenny awakes and ponders over not feeling drunk but having an empty liquor bottle . Another coping strategy Lenny has is the use of his Polaroid camera . He takes pictures throughout the film that are very significant to the plot and help the story along Finally , Lenny 's emergency coping strategy is to just write messages to himself down on a piece of . This is seen in the scene where he finds out he is being taken advantage of by his love interest and she removes all of the pens from the room so he has no way to remember

In a flashback scene , representative of one of the inserts that Lenny had put in his journal , the dis that both Lenny and Sammy suffer from is identified as Korsakoff Syndrome . This is psychologically known as a degenerative brain dis in which there is a lack of thiamine (vitamin B ) in the brain . The use of this dis is identified in the plot when Lenny says

Mrs . Jankis opens the front door to Leonard . Leonard shakes

hands with Sammy , who smiles at him in apparent recognition

LEONARD (V .0

The doctors assure me that there 's a

real condition called Korsokoff 's

syndrome short-term memory loss , rare

but legit . But every time I see him I

catch a look of recognition . Just a

slight look , but he says he can 't

remember me at...