A fictitious thriller concerning the aftermath of the Holocaust, Remember is a film unlike any I have seen before on the subject.It is an intimate story, set in the present day, but triggered by events 70 years ago. Over the past decade or so there has been an increasing awareness that, although now aged and ailing, there are still Nazi criminals at large and unaccounted for. The Simon Wiesenthal Center, with a mission statement to track down ex-Nazis still in hiding, launched Operation Last Chance in 2002.
For 90-year-old Zev Guttman (Christopher Plummer), the story begins with the death of his wife. Zev, in an assisted-living residence, wakes with a shudder and calls out his wife Ruth’s name. He is suffering from dementia and so it is his wife’s former carer who reminds Zev that Ruth passed away a week earlier. On the last night of the Jewish ritual of mourning, Zev’s wheelchair-bound friend Max (Martin Landau), also 90, hands him an envelope and tells him to open it in private. When Zev does, inside he finds a detailed letter and a stack of US hundred dollar bills. As he reads the words Max has written, Zev is moved to act because of a promise Zev made to Max to track down Rudy Kurlander, a man who destroyed Max and Zev’s families at Auschwitz concentration camp. The man known by the name Kurlander is apparently now living in America. Zev packs a small bag and quietly slips away from the home and into a waiting taxi, the driver of which already knows Zev’s first destination. The journey towards destiny has begun. As you can imagine, Zev’s son is distraught and can’t understand why his father wasn’t more closely monitored.
So it is that Remember is suspenseful, involving a collision between the darkest chapter of the 20th century and a contemporary mission of revenge.
Directed by Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter), it is based upon a script from novice screenwriter Benjamin August and I am here to tell you that it is quite a yarn. In more ways than one, Egoyan regards Remember as a “companion piece” to his earlier work, Ararat, which also starred Plummer. “It addresses the residual effects of history over time and how we form ourselves, particularly when one’s history involves trauma.” “This notion of how time and trauma are refracted through generations is at the core of so much of the material that I’m interested in,” Egoyan says.
Remember’s plot, motivated by the past, but without conventional reliance on flashbacks, plays out completely in the present, free of sentimentality or manipulation. It is the film’s ability to surprise and to shock, with a focus upon two men in their nineties, that really stands out.
Plummer and Landau are outstanding. As a relatively frail and forgetful man, you may wonder how Plummer’s character can be allowed to get as far as he does. The answer is with the help of the secondary and more youthful characters who inadvertently aid his cause. It is a brilliantly effective device that helps move the story forward.
Remember is about attrocities and about paying for past sins. It is also one of the cleverest thrillers I have seen. Any preconceptions should be left at the door. Atom Egoyan has woven a compelling tale that, pun fully intended, won’t easily be forgotten. Rated MA, Remember scores an 8 out of 10.
Remember is showing as part of the Holocaust Film Series exclusively in Sydney and Melbourne till 11 May 2016.
Alex First
David Edwards is the editor of The Blurb and a contributor on film and television
