Memento, Movie Review Example

A Film Review Based on Hume’s Enquiry and Descarte’s Meditations of the Cartesian Theorem

The psychological thriller film Memento was released in the year 2000 under the direction of Christopher Nolan. The movie specifically features a man who is suffering from anterograde amnesia which causes him to lose new memories every fifteen minutes. This means that he needs to live life anew everyday he wakes up. Considerably, this case indicates the incapacity of the human brain to store new data because of the occurrence of particular disturbances. Leonard, the primary character, was presented to be running after the two men who attached, raped and strangled his wife to death. Although the policemen did not accept the theory of an existing second attacker, Leonard knows it was real. Although his brain does not reserve new memories, the memory of his wife being strangled and raped for dead specifically repeatedly plays in his head causing him to think about revenge over and over again. He needed to keep note of every second of everyday; to take photos as evidences to his journey towards finding the guy he wants to prove as existent especially in relation to the case of his wife’s death. If it is hard for an ordinary normal person to undergo such process, a person under Leonard’s case would have more to give attention to in relation to this matter.

In relation to the case of Leonard, a question of whether or not the evidences he collect everyday would be enough to support his quest specifically identifies well with the ideal presentation of Hume with regards memories and doubtful thinking in his written work the Enquiry. Herein, he suggests that there is no evidence that is beyond doubt; everything must be questioned especially in relation to the validity of the data presented and the relation it has to the person utilizing it for particular enquiry. In the case of Leonard in the film, his brain’s incapacity to retain new memories causes him to constantly ask about the photographs he took; one of which is the picture of a man with the name Dodd in it. The image shows a man who has duck-taped mouth and has bloody features in the picture. In the movie, repetitively asks who the guy is, thus suggesting that this man is a part of his present memory, something newer compared to the time when his wife died. His constant doubting on the matter suggests how unconvinced he is about the person or the connection he has with him. The only vivid picture he can paint in his mind are the last hours that his wife was alive. According to Hume, such doubt, even to those living and thinking normally, is rather a valid concept of the human brain’s processing of information. Relatively, he suggests that the human brain could only retain memories that serve a large impact into the being of a particular individual. At times, the human brain also has the capacity to reject particular data especially in relation to what the person decides to remember and what information should simply be set aside.

Humes further questions the primary senses that humans posses. He argues that somehow, it is through these senses that people are lead astray from actual matters, from the truth. The accuracy of the reporting process of the senses to the brain gets specifically entangled with matters such as personal perception, experience and personal understanding of particular matter one encounters each day. Relatively, from such bases of interpretation, there are instances when the brain may be able to release decisive analysis of the situation that is relatively faulty as it is based on personal understanding and not on mathematical logic.

Leonard needs to distinctively separate the different information he garners every day. He needs to take note of each turn of time and be able to remind himself what relation these matters have to his main goal thus allowing him to start over in the morning. Basing from such situation, it could be understood how Hume’s wants to make a point about the real process behind brain’s function of interpreting collected data. The anomalies in Leonard’s brain specifically provide a distinct indication on how Hume could prove the ideal presentation of a separate way of thinking from the person who tends to use memory as a basis of new information retrieved. Retracing his path and trying to find the man he considers to have assaulted his wife is a necessary process to take on the part of Leonard. Although this is the case, Descartes’ meditations specifically point out the existence of a firm starting point; so long as there is that, the creation of new intuitive decisions would be possible. Leonard’s repetitive engagement on the memory about his wife’s death is considered as a strong foundation, a starting point, where he could retrace his path. Relatively, such foundation is argued by Humes to be incapable of supporting the needed constancy of flow of information for particular cases such as the one Leonard is facing to be solved efficiently.

In this case, it is suggested that Leonard must be able to create a connection between his mind and his body; although it may be quite harder for his situation, it is evidently important that he notes the connection of everything he remembers to all the things he sees at an everyday pattern and how they could relate to the memory of his wife and the assailant who ran away from the law. Although the capacity of his mind to create a perfect picture of the man he is looking for is quite daunting, connecting the evidences he collects everyday with that of the memories he has about his wife and the night she died, he might just be able to find out what actually happened next and how such matters connect to the person he is looking for. In the movie, Leonard’s case strongly lies closer to the arguments and theories presented by Humes. Considering that experience teaches every individual, even a man who may have a problem with remembering things could actually garner more from the ideal process by which he utilizes whatever memory he has and retrain his brain to remember through formulating reasoning and point of connection between the evidences he collects each day towards finding the rightful justice his wife deserves.

Works Cited

Fodor, Jerry. Hume Variations. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 134.

Klein, Andy (2001-06-28). “Everything you wanted to know about “Memento””. Salon.com.