Movie Review—Remember

Remember

by Peter J. O'Connell

Remember. Opening (U.S.): March 2016. Runtime: 94 mins. MPAA Rating: R for a sequence of violence and language. 

In recent years there has been a spate of films dealing with older characters and featuring such senior stars as Robert De Niro, Sally Field, Helen Mirren and Maggie Smith. These films generally have been comedies of various kinds (the Marigold Hotel series and The Expendables series, for example). Some have been serious dramas, such as last year's acclaimed 45 years, with Charlotte Rampling. Few, however, have been intense thrillers. Remember is.

Remember is directed by Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan, famed as a master of the “twist” film—even more so than M. Night (The Sixth Sense) Shymalan. Remember stars two distinguished North American actors, Christopher Plummer (born 1929) and Martin Landau (born 1928), with support from some noted German actors, all over 74, as well as American and Canadian ones.

The film begins in a nursing home where Zev Gutman (Plummer) and Max Rosenbaum (Landau), both Jewish, are residents. Max is hooked up to an oxygen tank and confined to a wheelchair. Zev is recently widowed. Max reminds Zev that he told Zev that they both had been in Auschwitz at the same time and witnessed a Nazi officer, Otto Wallisch, wipe out their families. Max says that he learned that Wallisch immigrated to North America under the false name Rudy Kurlander. Based on that knowledge, Max convinced Zev to vow revenge on Wallisch/Kurlander, once Zev's wife died. 

The problem is, Max points out, that there are four persons in the U.S. and Canada under the name Rudy Kurlander who are of the right age. Another problem, one that shapes the film, is that Zev has an Alzheimer's-related disorder that impairs his memory. Therefore, as Zev undertakes his mission of vengeance, he has to follow detailed instructions written out for him by Max.

Suspense a la Hitchcock mounts as Zev's odd odyssey takes him on bus trips across the continent, confronting various challenges along the way as he attempts to ascertain which of the Rudys he has to kill. Will he be able to buy a gun? Can he cross and recross the U.S.-Canadian border? Can he restore his directions when liquid is spilled on them? Can he handle the family members of the Rudys? Will he actually be able to kill Wallisch when he determines who he really is? Egoyan relieves the tension of this quest by moments of tenderness and humor flecked throughout the film, such as when Zev has a conversation with a young boy. But by the time of the shocking climax, tension has reached a point almost beyond relief. 

The role of Zev is another feather in the multi-feathered cap of Christopher Plummer, whose career extends back 70 years and has encompassed notable work in virtually every genre of stage, film and television. His portrayal of Zev recreates the man's physical frailty while bringing out his psychological (despite cognitive impairment) strength. 

Landau's performance is also fine as are those of such supporting actors as Henry Czerny, Bruno Ganz, Heinz Lieven and Jurgen Prochnow. Dean Norris deserves a shout-out as the German-shepherd-owning, state trooper son of one of the Rudys. The sequence of his confrontation with Zev while demolition by bulldozer and dynamite is going on behind his house is a gem of acting and directing. 

Remember is gripping, poignant and unusual. Make yourself a note to see it!

“Footnotes” to the film: (1) A good way to follow up a viewing of Remember is to see Exotica (1994) and The Sweet Hereafter (1997), stunning films by Atom Egoyan. Egoyan, of Armenian descent, also directed Ararat (2002), about the Armenian genocide during the World War I era. (2) Christopher Plummer's film roles have included Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music (1965) and German General Rommel in The Night of the Generals (1967). (The von Trapp family had to flee the Nazi takeover of Austria.) Plummer also appeared on stage at the American Shakespeare Festival Theatre in Stratford, Connecticut, in 1955 and 1981. (3) Martin Landau's Austrian-born father scrambled to rescue relatives from the Nazis. Martin Landau played an Azheimer's-afflicted character in the TV series Without a Trace ( 2002-2009). (4) The Debt (U.S release 2011) is a drama-thriller involving the hunt by Israeli agents, over decades, for a Nazi war criminal. Jessica Chastain plays one of the agents as a young woman, and Helen Mirren plays her as an older woman. The film features an astonishing knock-down and drag-out fight between the Nazi character and the Mirren character. (5) Memento (2000), directed by Christopher Nolan, is a striking film dealing with anterograde amnesia—loss of the ability to create new memories after the event that caused the amnesia.