Memory believes before knowing remembers. Believes longer than recollects, longer than knowing even wonders.
-William Faulkner
I’d actually never watched Memento before. I’ve watched a Bollywood movie that was supposedly inspired by it but I realized they’re quite different except for the basic plot. It was interesting to see how two movies based on the same plot can be so different because they were intended for different audiences. Each wanted to focus on the aspect of the story that the producers knew would appeal to the audience it was intended for. But, going back to the quote by William Faulkner- I remembered this quote as I was thinking about what Leonard said about memory-
“Memory can change the shape of a room; it can change the color of a car. And memories can be distorted. They're just an interpretation, they're not a record, and they're irrelevant if you have the facts.”
His idea was that facts and records outweigh memories. He probably just said this in his defense because he did not want to be pitied for his inability to form memories. But this statement just made me a little uncomfortable because I think that memories are relevant, regardless of the facts. It’s the same idea of story-truth versus happening-truth that we first encountered in The Things The Carried. Having a memory of something is more than knowing what happened. Memory is more than the sum total of facts. Memory is about the emotional truth of an experience; facts and records cannot carry such emotional weight. In fact, Leonard himself epitomizes this idea. The drive with which he pursues John G. and the “reason” he thinks he will be able to make it, unlike Sammy Jenkins, comes from his memories of his wife. As Leonard says on another occasion,
“You know, I can remember so much. The feel of the world... her.”
What he remembers is not just the mere “fact” of her existence, it’s the feel of her. It’s her memories that constantly push him towards his purpose. So, even though he denies it, memories are relevant to him. Because even when memories disguise the happening truths, they speak the emotional truth. Leonard has all the facts he needs to find his wife’s murderer, but they are mean something to him only because if his wife memories. So, it’s not memories that are irrelevant in lack of facts. It’s the facts that are irrelevant without memories.
Memory perhaps doesn’t even have anything to do with happening truths and facts. Slight digression but it’s like what Albert Einstein once said about education, that education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school. Memory is what remains after one has forgotten all the facts. In the end, memory outweighs facts, it outweighs knowledge. Knowing doesn’t believe, it doesn’t inspire, memory does.
With respect to John G., Natalie's advice to Lenny was interesting: he won't remember his revenge. The whole movie we watch his discipline,his preciseness, his motivation, his drive, all towards one purpose: to exact revenge on his wife's murderer. Despite his condition his memory of her drive's him forward, like you said; it inspires him. We watch his life through tiny pieces of time that never quite fit together, all the while maintaining an awareness that although we are confused with the layout of time, we still are able to remember, something Lenny cannot do. The whole movie seemingly leads up to one moment in time, when Lenny exacts his revenge. But what happens next? He won't remember it. This proves why it was important for Dana, in Kindred, to be able to carry her memories with her as she was transported back and forth. Like Lenny, Dana too was incapable of controlling her condition. She was lucky, however, in that she was able to remember what happened to her and therefore able to more effectively work towards a goal. While Dana's gender and race are what inhibited her progress, Lenny's memory-loss was his. When Dana accomplished a goal she set, however, she was able to remember it. Lenny won't, so why is it so important he accomplishes it?
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