Have Cheetah,Will View #33 – “Remember”

It’s 11:15 pm

 

Family Video had their Valentine’s Day sale this past weekend. I called my buddy Romey up for a little media hunting and away we went to the local Family Video by my house.
The sale was a good one….any titles that sold for 1.99 were 1.00 if you bought them in bundles of 5.
Normally it used to be you had to buy 10 DVDs to get the 1.00 deal but they lowered to help move older titles and overstock out of the store. These sales are such a great way to invest a dollar on a title you never would have given a second glance at in a Wal-Mart or a Best Buy. Family Video carries a ton of indie movies as well as the usual big studio stuff like “Dr. Strange”,etc,etc….

So as I started shopping I came across “Remember”. I had never heard anything about it and that starred Christopher Plummer and Martin Landau as two very old Jewish Halocaust survivors living out their last days at a home.
The film opens up with Zev (Plummer) waking up and looking for his wife. (I certainly can relate to that). He is suffering from early dementia and has forgotten that his wife passed two weeks ago from cancer.

Max is a very frail wheelchair bound man but whose mind is sharp as a razor. He has found the Nazi who killed both Max and Zev’s families. Max mentions that famed Nazi hunter Simon Wiesenthal had always stressed to capture any Nazis alive so they could face justice in a court of law.
But Max knows by the time that the guard,Rudi Kurlander,sees the courthouse,Max will be dead and Zev’s dementia will have taken his brain. Max knows Kurlander must die but since Max is unable,he has turned to Zev to become his weapon of justice.
Max has come up with a plan to help them achieve their justice….but with a fading memory and four Rudi Kurlanders on a list….will Zev be able to finish the mission?

Wow,this was a great movie directed by Atom Egoyan off a story written by Benjamin August. I really was into this movie and it had me at the edge of my seat. Plummer,Landau and Jurgen Prochnow all were so superb. In the Making Of feature,the film makers talked about casting so many actors that were in their upper 80s  as leads and how it was a risk. Add the story of the Holocaust and hunting Nazis and you’re not going to get a huge audience and in the case of “Remember”,that is a damned shame.
This is a timeless story and reminds you that we can never forget what happened back in the death camps. Even today there are men who escaped justice who committed unspeakable acts that deserve no mercy if they are found. August’s story showcases this in the characters of Max and Zev. When it would be so easy to turn away and live out the remainder of their lives,they will not…

I would be remiss in mentioning Dean Norris’s turn as John Kurlander,the son of one of the men on Max and Zev’s list. His turn as the son of one of the men on the list is quite memorable.
There is a plot hole that prevents this from becoming a true classic but not nearly enough to not recommend “Remember” as a must see experience.

The extras are solid as well…..a director’s commentary plus two outstanding featurettes
add to the overall goodness of this movie.

The cheetah and I both gave “Remember” a thumbs/paws up!

 

If you have a movie suggestion that you think Paladin and I should watch,leave a comment below.