Emmanuel T.

Acosta
Philo1 – THU2

1. What is the film about? Summarize it in not more than 5 sentences.

The film is about protagonist Leonard Shelby who is trying to find and kill the man
who murdered his wife. His wife was raped and killed in an incident one night where he
himself suffered an injury which left him with a condition where he has short-term memory –
he forgets everything after a few minutes and therefore is not able to make new memories
after the incident. He relies on notes and polaroid pictures to keep track of the things he
forgets, and he tattoos the most important facts on his body, most of which are important clues
on his investigation to find his wife’s killer. The film is set in a span of a few days in a town
where Leonard mostly stays in a motel following leads with the help of mysterious characters
Teddy and Natalie. The main part of the story (in color) starts when Leonard kills Teddy in an
abandoned warehouse and progresses backwards, revealing prior events and peaks at the same
warehouse where Leonard kills the supposed killer “John G.” but Teddy later reveals that
Leonard already killed John G and made him question all the truth that he believes prompting
him to tattoo a false fact that would eventually point him to Teddy after he forgets what just
transpired, explaining the first scene in the movie.

2. Were you able to get a conclusive resolution? Was Lenny able to exact justice for the death
of his wife?
The film very much leaves the audience hanging and opens a lot of things to
interpretation. Probably one of the reasons for this is the film’s unorthodox but ingenious
sequencing of events where the climax and ending actually happens at the middle of the story
or narrative. Whether or not Teddy, the other John G’s, or even Leonard himself, is the real
killer, we will never really know. The film made me realize that Leonard wasn’t really
looking for revenge nor justice, he was searching for his identity.

3. Do you believe “John G.”/Teddy? Which among the main characters do you deem to be
the most trustworthy?
The reverse-chronological story telling of the film gives a novel but interesting
viewing experience. At the beginning I was very skeptical of Teddy seen as he was the one
that Leonard killed and therefore the one he has been searching for. But as the past events
unfold and we meet “new” characters such as Natalie, I began to think that Teddy was
innocent and shift the suspicion on Natalie. Eventually, as the movie literally imposes
Leonard’s experience to the viewers by the backwards storytelling, I began to be like Leonard
who is very suspicious of everybody and would refuse to believe in things that aren’t
established facts. Finally, at Teddy’s big revelation at the end of the film, the tower of cards
just falls. Leonard’s truth, the protagonist’s truth itself is put into question. I didn’t know what
to believe anymore that’s why I do not take what Teddy said as fact that easily.

4. How is the truth portrayed in the film? How about certainty?

Leonard’s view on truth is that it is infallible unlike memory that can be distorted
depending on the individual. But we know that even what Leonard thought was true based on
his notes and tattoos, could easily be manipulated and distorted even by himself. Even the
entire premise that his wife was murdered was ultimately questioned in the end. As much as
he tried, he was still no better than Sammy Jankis or maybe he was Sammy Jankis. The truth,
as long as it resides or interpreted in the human mind, can always be manipulated and
therefore we can never be certain.

5. The film portrays memory as an unreliable source of knowledge. If you are Lenny (ie, if
your memory is impeded), how would you proceed forward?
There are better ways to keep track of events than the methods used by Leonard.
Especially now where we have video and audio recording very accessible. So, I think I would
stick with that and other methods using digital devices even though it still could be
manipulated.

6. Which knowledge source is the most important for you?

I think the knowledge acquired from scientific and empirical methods is most
trustworthy. But knowledge from our own senses and memory is still very important.