Slipping into Character

As I was watching Memento it occurred to me that the success of the film lay in its ability to make every viewer feel as Leonard feels. Every time Leonard wakes up he is thrust into a brand new world and the disjointed storytelling that we are presented with helps to mimic that. The film promotes empathy instead of just sympathy. As viewers we can find ourselves in Leonard's proverbial shoes and feel his sense of displacement and alienation that would accompany such a crippling disorder. Yet, we also feel his drive and forced order as the film logically progresses. The structure of the film perfectly duplicates the process in Leonard's mind and that provides greater access to the character.

On a separate note, I would like to speculate a little bit about the manipulation of Leonard; I believe that Natalie is at the crux of it.  She is the one that we have seen explicitly give information to Leonard so I think we can deduce that she is his main contact. This being said, she could easily make Leonard believe that the man who killed his wife was the man who killed Jimmy, Natalie’s something-or-other. Also, Natalie has already manipulated Leonard into beating up Dodd. She is taking advantage of him and I think this will lead back all the way to the first scene in the movie where Leonard shoots Teddy.