Recuerdos secretos

Greetings again from the darkness. Earlier this year, 81 year old Maggie Smith impressed with her lead role in The Lady in the Van. And now, just a few weeks later, comes 86 year old Christopher Plummer in a gut-wrenching performance as Zev Guttman, a 90 year old German grieving widower suffering from dementia. Don't let that description fool you … Zev goes on a cross-continent road trip with a mission of seeking justice against the Auschwitz guard who killed his family more than 70 years ago.

Zev lives in a nursing home and often can't remember to wear shoes, much less that his beloved wife Ruth has passed away. It turns out another resident/patient at the home shares a history at Auschwitz with him. Wheelchair-bound Max (Martin Landau) says the two men are the last surviving members of their cell block, and must work together to find the guard – now living under the assumed name of Rudy Kurlander – and find justice for their families. So we find ourselves with a coalition of sympathetic senior citizen Nazi hunters.

Given the war atrocities, it makes sense that over the years, many movies have placed Nazi hunting as a core theme. Among the most well known are: The Odessa File (1974), Marathon Man (1976), The Boys from Brazil (1978), Inglourious Bastards (2009), and The Debt (2010). But leave it to director Atom Egoyan (Ararat, Where the Truth Lies) to find a different spin and a twist on a familiar theme. At times, Zev's dementia distracts us from his vengeful mission, while at various other times, the innocence of children acts as a dual reminder – the fragility of old age vs. the eye-for-eye brutality.

It's Landau's Max who acts as a type of narrative structure for the story. His sharp and focused plan is written out in letter form so that Zev can constantly refer and be reminded of his purpose. The letter also provides us viewers with the necessary back-story to fully comprehend the what's and why's. Each time Zev re-reads the letter, he re-experiences the loss of his wife – yet another of the film's reminders of the effects of dementia.

Zev's search takes him from Ohio to Canada to Idaho to Lake Tahoe. He goes through four Rudy Kurlanders – with Bruno Ganz (Downfall, 2004) and Jurgen Prochnow (Das Boot (1981) representing two. There is also a very uncomfortable sequence involving Dean Norris ("Breaking Bad") which reminds that hatred is often passed down through generations.

The nursing home "getaway" and the purchase of a gun have us thinking Zev is some type of senior citizen Jason Bourne – sharing the lack of memory, but none of the skills. The title of "Remember" has many meanings and interpretations here, not the least of which is as a display of loss, guilt, revenge, family and old age. Even the most poignant moment of the film occurs when Zev says "I remember".

This film tells the story of a holocaust survivor who now has dementia and lives in a nursing home in the USA. With the encouragement from another holocaust survivor, he sets out on a trip to hunt down their tormentors.

I expected "Remember" to be touching, but I have not expected it to be so completely powerful. It tells the sad life of an old man struggling with basic daily life because of his dementia. Then, it tells a heart wrenching story of revenge seeking. It is already a captivating story, but the story only gets better. The ending is something of a shock which leaves me literally paralysed with emotions. It leaves my brain frantically feeling the emotions of the various characters in the film, especially Zeb's and the other guy in the nursing home. The story astounds me, leaves me with tingles in my head for many minutes after the film ends. I'm made speechless by the intensity of the story. And the even more amazing thing is that the story is very believable, to the point that it could happen to anyone of the elderly generation.

I think "Remember" is a must see for everyone. Make time to find it and watch it!

Atom Egoyan in fine form directing a fascinating story of revenge and identity loss. Christopher Plummer plays the main character with the sense of consistent and strong characterization that he has done so well for over forty years. This is definitely one of his more convincing roles, and since the focus is on his character the entire time, he truly had to carry this picture along. He does so with complete conviction and confidence.

What makes the story so interesting and keeps it moving are the separate stops on the journey of the main character. In each place he visits there are additional members of the supporting cast introduced, each of whom add a uniqueness and individuality to the scenes that play out. Dean Norris certainly plays an intensely well suited and memorable role. Egoyan keeps up his trademark use of strange and unusual locations, and any fan of the director will not be disappointed.

There is a great twist in this story, one of the better ones I've seen in a while. Some good advice would be to not read any of the spoilers, although the description of how the plot changes would take up several paragraphs. You're better off watching the movie and enjoying Mychael Danna's brilliant soundtrack as an added bonus.

There have been a lot of movies about the Holocaust in the last couple of years, some very good. But none have had the suspenseful screenplay of Remember. This movie is one of the best efforts from director Atom Egoyan since he showed such promise with The Sweet Hereafter in the late 1990s. Perhaps the secret here was his using someone else's screenplay rather than his own.

Excellently acted (when is Christopher Plummer not excellent?), staged, and filmed, and edited down to a taut 95 minutes, this film succeeds not "merely" as a Holocaust reminder but as a self-contained thriller: an engrossing and ultimately thoroughly satisfying piece of cinema.

In a striking similarity to Memento, a forgetful man wanders around with one goal of finding the men from his past. This is not the ordinary thriller as it's significantly slower with a peculiar lead character, yet it's surprisingly just as effective as any high octane action . The journey is not a happy one, and it builds audience's expectation in clever way that when the goal is reached, none of the outcomes seems to be pleasant.

Zev (Christopher Plummer) is an old man with dementia. After the death of his wife, his friend hands him a letter containing a mission to find the men from Auschwitz. Christopher Plummer is truly exceptional, he displays the courage as though his character is a secret agent despite deep down he's plagued with terror and uncertainty. His often meek demeanor is sympathetic to watch, but at the same time one can invest in his endeavor and motive.

The visual and audio are designed to create suspense even in trivial moments. Its main focus is a man with dementia, and little things might rattle him, so any bump in the trip proves to be challenging. Acting from the rest of cast is commendable. Characters would most likely help Zev, yet there's an unsettling feeling that their reactions can be antagonistic, especially since Zev is not particularly suave with words.

It plays with the awkward situation really well with the solemn music and view of scenery that feels darker even though it never literally becomes that way. On the other hand, this could also hamper the pace. This is far from action thriller, more investment is made towards the drama instead of gun-slinging action.

Zev's adventure is a bizarre and slow one, it's an ironic tale of both kindness and cruelty of others. Unsettling yet charming in its somber steps.