A disturbing film

Rating: Null/10 (20 April 2001)

I found Memento very disturbing. I could identify with Guy Pearce's character, Leonard Shelby (he hates being called Lenny). As I think we all can to lesser degrees.
Leonard's case is extreme however; here he suffers a "disorder" where he completely forgets things that happened to him only a few minutes ago. However he remembers himself normally prior to a traumatic event (he remembers his name and where's he from for example). The uncertainty in what really happened is part of the of story I guess. A major theme of the story is that everyday we all construct our identities from two sources: a)	Memory b)	Our immediate surroundings and context
But what if we have no memory or it is unreliable? What happens to the view of our self? Leonard has no lasting memory of anything after his wife's death even though he appears to remember his life before her death with clarity. His only residual memory or instinct is to seek revenge by killing his wife murderers.
What I found disturbing about this film is that it made me realise that I have made and continue to make profound decisions in my life (eg. whether to accept a new job or form relationships) based on perhaps imperfect or skewed recall of events and emotions as they really happened at the time.
We see that Leonard's life lived within this scenario is harrowing and sad.
But it made me realise that who I am is, at least to some significant degree, a result of the imperfections inherent in my memory: that is, I would be a very different person if my memory was better or worse it is now.
The reverse order in which the story is told, with overlapping scenes is a powerful method of telling a story. It makes me more conscious of cause and effect. It made me think much more than if the story was told in linear fashion.
The opening sequences occur in reverse motion. The rest of the film is shown in short (as little as 1-2 min) colour time sequences in reverse chronological order (that often overlap). Black and white sequences - apparently from in the distant past, some short time after Leonard's wife's murder - are juxtaposed throughout the film. But this too, is not obvious to me at least. Besides this, the filming techniques used are mercifully competent and invisible so as to not distract from the story.
So unlike many films, this film can possibly make us examine and question what it means to be a human. On how and why we see ourselves in the world as we do. On what basis do we make decisions to do things as we do?