Memento Reflective Essay:

In Memento, the movie starts out with Leonard, fanning a polaroid picture that was starting to become undeveloped. It was a picture of a murder scene. Throughout the entire movie, all the scenes play backwards. From when he killed Teddy, to when he met Teddy at the inn Leonard was staying at. From then, the movie keeps going backwards, and at the end of each scene it ties it back into the scene that followed it from before. So, the movie is essentially playing backwards, and we are recounting what went on that led Leonard to kill Teddy. We also learn about what happened to his wife, and what happened to him that made him lose the ability to recall his short-term memory, and why he was out to get John G. Leonard could continue to function because he developed a habit and routine to maintain his life, unlike his other patient that he mentions who took notes and would get them jumbled. Leonard could finally get his revenge on Teddy, only after we learn at the end of the movie that it seems that Teddy or John G. was having Leonard kill people with the name “John G.”. After he killed a man name James who was drug dealer at the Discount Inn, that is when Leonard wrote on Teddy’s picture to never trust him. I appreciate the way the set this movie up, especially the backward scenes, as we felt like Leonard may have every day. By being introduced to a new scene that didn’t make sense until the very end of it, and then we were able to tie it into the other scenes.