Souviens-toi

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".

A drama-thriller about a 80+ year old man with dementia who set out to avenge his dead family, killed by a nazi in Auswitz whom he finds out is also living in America. And goes on a road-trip to find him and bring him some cold and long-earned justice.

Christoffer Plummer plays the role very well and in a world of entertainment where the expiry-date for lead-roles is at a young age for many it is rather refreshing to see a man of his age (85 when it was being filmed) lead a drama-thriller like this.

The smaller roles are also played well, Dean Norris stands out in a memorable performance.

I'm not gonna go into too much details but it's well worth seeing and deserves more viewers for sure.

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.

I'd caution people to not read any of these reviews that contain spoilers, because they will rob you of a captivating movie experience. This is one movie, believe me, where you do not want to know how it comes out until the movie itself has a chance to tell its tale, much Like "Crying Game" some years ago. I cannot understand people who do this, self-appointed film "experts" who have decided that you do not deserve to let the movie speak for itself. They're like people who blab about surprise parties, or who say "Now watch this!" loudly in a theater. This movie is as well-written and directed as anything you're likely to see this year, and to know too much beforehand robs you of a rare cinematic experience.

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.