Film Analysis Essay on Memento

Introduction

Memento presents a life story with the subject of amnesia which is very common in Hollywood movies. Any form of arts becomes interesting and motivating is the story seems real with real characters. The movie directors use them to present the audience with an issue that occurs often in the society. For most people, the real story in movies is just like any other entertainment while others are keen to know the purpose of that movie. The movie Memento is one of the films with real characters and a meaning. The main character is Leonardo Shelby, a man who suffers from memory disorder due to a head injury. Henry Molaison (H.M) is another character in the movie that cannot develop semantic and new episodic memories after an operation. The paper will discuss the similarities between H.M. and the main actor Leonard Shelby in the movie Memento.

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In the movie Memento, both H.M. and the main actor Leonard Shelby suffer from a memory disorder. Leonard suffers from short-term memory deficit which is more than just forgetting. His symptom suggests that he may be suffering from anterograde amnesia. This happened after he hit his head hard and the director successfully manages to portray several symptoms of anterograde amnesia, for example, Leonard remembers everything that happened prior to his head injury but he cannot develop semantic or new episode memories. Similarly, H. M. is an American patient who is also suffering from mental disorder following an operation. H.M. is unable to form new episodic and semantic memories and is operated to remove his medial temporal lobe that was causing the problem. Just like Leonard H.M. could spend morning hours with a psychologist, talk, and o through the session but hours after the lunch break he fails to recognize the psychologist. H.M. case has been used by many scholars to explain theories of the connection between memory and function. In the film, Leonard works as an insurance investigator and his memory loss but cannot perform his duties well due to memory loss. He has a mission to kill his wife murders but he cannot remember what happened that day. Although he is being assisted by few people the case is taking much time since every time he meets with them they have to explain everything afresh. The worst part is that they have to reintroduce themselves because Leonard does not remember them. Anterograde amnesia is a condition of memory loss following an individual event and Molaison and Leonard suffer from it.

In both characters, the cause of the memory disorder is a head injury. On the day Leonard wife was killed he sustained a head injury and it is the cause of his condition. He was trying to save his wife's life but he could not and his head was badly hit during the Struggle. Similarly, H.M experienced an accident when he was seven years old and he sustained a head injury. The injury developed and it leads to his memory loss.

The lives of the two characters came to a standstill after the experienced the accidents. Both Leonard and Molaison became unproductive after the accidents. Molaison became dormant during childhood and the better years of his youth. He experienced stunted growth, epilepsy-linked incidences, and seizures. He spends many years at Windsor Locks Care Institute where he was used for a study. Similarly, Leonard life never progressed successfully after the injury he sustained from his head. He could not continue with his work as an insurance investigator and he spends all his time trying to figure out how he would murder his wife killer.

Molaison's and Leonard's past memories were still intact. They could remember clearly all that took place before the accidents that damaged their head. Leonard remembers all events that took place the day his wife was murdered. He knows the person behind this crime but his image cannot occur to him due to memory damage. Although he does not remember his daily activities he knows that he is a professional insurance claim investigator. Molaison answered all the question concerning the events that before 1953 before the head injury but could not tell anything from 1953.

Another similarity is that both of them are aware of their memory disorder. H.M. verbalizes and describes his memory disorder to others the same way that Leonard did. Leonard cannot wait to remember the man who murdered his wife because he wants to avenge her death. He tries to fight his memory loss by noting down important details or even tattooing his body with evidence he gathers from people because he knows that soon he would forget it. He says that memory can alter the shape of a room and the color of a car because it is subject to distortion.

Conclusion

Lastly, the two characters were used by people pretending to help them to benefit themselves. Teddy took advantage of Leonard condition for his personal gain because he was a corrupt police officer. Natalie works as a barmaid and she also uses Leonard to avenge the death of her boyfriend.