Remember (2015 film)
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

''Remember'' is a 2015
drama thriller film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
directed by
Atom Egoyan Atom Egoyan (; hy, Աթոմ Եղոյեան, translit=Atom Yeghoyan; born July 19, 1960) is a Canadian filmmaker. He was part of a loosely-affiliated group of filmmakers to emerge in the 1980s from Toronto known as the Toronto New Wave. Egoyan m ...
and written by Benjamin August. Starring
Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...
,
Bruno Ganz Bruno Ganz (; 22 March 1941 – 16 February 2019) was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Franc ...
,
Jürgen Prochnow Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film ''Das Boot''. He is also known f ...
,
Heinz Lieven Heinz Lieven (18 April 1928 – 27 September 2021) was a German actor. Life and work Lieven was born in Blankenese, Hamburg, where he was raised. In 1948, he began an actor's training with the actors Helmuth Gmelin and Bernhard Minetti. He marri ...
,
Henry Czerny Henry Czerny ( ; born February 8, 1959) is a Canadian stage, film, and television actor. He is known for his roles in the films ''The Boys of St. Vincent, Mission: Impossible, Clear and Present Danger, The Ice Storm, The Exorcism of Emily Rose,' ...
,
Dean Norris Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off '' Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town council ...
and
Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
, it was a co-production of
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
. The plot follows an elderly
Holocaust The Holocaust, also known as the Shoah, was the genocide of European Jews during World War II. Between 1941 and 1945, Nazi Germany and its collaborators systematically murdered some six million Jews across German-occupied Europe; a ...
survivor with dementia who sets out to kill a Nazi war criminal in retaliation for the death of his family and was inspired by August's consideration that there were fewer parts for senior actors in recent years. After a screening at the
72nd Venice International Film Festival The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film ''Amarcord'' was shown at the ...
, it was theatrically released in Canada on October 23, 2015, in Germany on December 31, 2015, and in the United States by
A24 A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
on March 11, 2016. ''Remember'' received mostly positive reviews and won a few film festival awards. At the 4th Canadian Screen Awards, August received the Award for Best Original Screenplay and ''Remember'' was also nominated for Best Motion Picture.


Plot

In a New York City nursing home,
Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz concentration camp ( (); also or ) was a complex of over 40 concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) during World War II and the Holocaust. It con ...
survivor Zev Guttman, an 89-year-old dementia patient awakens looking for his wife, Ruth, who died two weeks prior. Another elderly patient and fellow Auschwitz survivor, the incapacitated Max Rosenbaum, reminds Zev of what he promised to do when Ruth died. Max has continually reminded Zev that their families were murdered at the camp by the Blockführer Otto Wallisch, who was believed to have immigrated to North America under the false name Rudy Kurlander. The
Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...
has located four Rudy Kurlanders, but there is no evidence to arrest any of them. Max reminds Zev that they are the only two who can still recognize Wallisch. Max convinces Zev to avenge their families by seeking out and killing Wallisch and provides him written instructions to follow. Zev leaves the nursing home in a taxi and boards a train to
Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
as a Silver Alert is issued for his disappearance. He has moments of confusion but he relies on the letter, which reminds him Ruth is dead, and Max arranges his travel. Max directs Zev to a gun shop in Cleveland, where he buys a
Glock 17 Glock is a brand of polymer- framed, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H. The firearm entered Austrian military and police service by 1982 after it was th ...
, and then to the four men in the U.S. and Canada named Rudy Kurlander, one of whom is the former Blockführer. Zev confronts the first Rudy Kurlander, a German veteran of World War II, in his home, but this Kurlander proves that he served in the North African Campaign and was never near Auschwitz. Zev finds the second Rudy Kurlander in a nursing home in Hearst,
Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
, but he turns out to have been a prisoner in Auschwitz also, sent there as a homosexual, which he proves by showing Zev his arm tattoo. Zev travels to
Boise Boise (, , ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho and is the county seat of Ada County. On the Boise River in southwestern Idaho, it is east of the Oregon border and north of the Nevada border. The downtown area' ...
, and arrives at the house of the third Rudy Kurlander in Bruneau,
Idaho Idaho ( ) is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. To the north, it shares a small portion of the Canada–United States border with the province of British Columbia. It borders the states of Montana and Wyom ...
. His son, John, an Idaho state trooper, tells Zev that his father died three months ago. John, who thinks Zev is an old friend of his father's from the war, shows him his father's Nazi memorabilia but reveals, after several glasses of whiskey, that his father was only a boy and a cook during the war. When John, who is a neo-Nazi, sees Zev's tattoo and realizes he is Jewish, he becomes enraged and lets loose his German shepherd, Eva, named after
Eva Braun Eva Anna Paula Hitler (; 6 February 1912 – 30 April 1945) was a German photographer who was the longtime companion and briefly the wife of Adolf Hitler. Braun met Hitler in Munich when she was a 17-year-old assistant and model for his ...
. Zev shoots the dog and then John in self-defense, collapses in exhaustion on John's bed and leaves the house in the morning. In
Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...
,
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, Zev falls in the street and is taken to the hospital, which contacts his relieved son, who travels to Reno. After a young girl reads his letter to him, Zev leaves for South Lake Tahoe,
California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
by taxi. After a night in a hotel where Zev is forced to use his credit card, he arrives at the home of the fourth Rudy Kurlander and his family, and recognizes him from his voice as the Auschwitz Blockführer. Zev's son, who traced him through his credit card and then the taxi service, arrives to witness Zev threatening to shoot Rudy's granddaughter unless he confesses "the truth" to everyone. Rudy admits to his daughter and granddaughter that he was in the SS and killed "many" people. However, he says his real name is Kunibert Sturm — and Zev himself is Otto Wallisch. They were both Blockführers, and after the war, tattooed each other to pose as Jewish survivors. Shocked, Zev shoots Sturm and then, declaring "I remember," fatally shoots himself. Back in New York, the horrified nursing home residents watch television news reports of the murder/suicide. Max reveals that he recognized Zev as Wallisch when he arrived at the nursing home, and that Wallisch and Sturm killed his family. On Max's desk, a copy of his letter to Zev is shown along with a picture of Otto Wallisch and a handwritten confession by Max.


Cast


Production

Benjamin August, a Jewish writer from
New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...
living in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...
and who had never written a produced film before, told ''
Canadian Jewish News The Canadian Jewish News is a non-profit, national, English-language digital-first media organization that serves Canada‘s Jewish community. A national edition of the newspaper was published for 60 years in Toronto. A weekly Montreal edition in ...
'' that the concept of ''Remember'' "started... with wanting to write a movie starring an older man." He felt elderly actors received few leading parts and that old characters are sympathetic. August sent his screenplay in to Canadian producer
Robert Lantos Robert Lantos, CM (born 3 April 1949) is a Hungarian-Canadian film producer. Life and career Lantos was born on 3 April 1949 in Budapest, the son of Ágnes (Bodor) and László Lantos, a mechanic and truck company owner. Lantos spent much of hi ...
, who envisioned Egoyan as the ideal director. On April 30, 2014, it was announced that the film would be directed by Egoyan, and would star
Christopher Plummer Arthur Christopher Orme Plummer (December 13, 1929 – February 5, 2021) was a Canadian actor. His career spanned seven decades, gaining him recognition for his performances in film, stage, and television. He received multiple accolades, inc ...
,
Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
,
Dean Norris Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off '' Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town council ...
,
Bruno Ganz Bruno Ganz (; 22 March 1941 – 16 February 2019) was a Swiss actor whose career in German stage, television and film productions spanned nearly 60 years. He was known for his collaborations with the directors Werner Herzog, Éric Rohmer, Franc ...
,
Heinz Lieven Heinz Lieven (18 April 1928 – 27 September 2021) was a German actor. Life and work Lieven was born in Blankenese, Hamburg, where he was raised. In 1948, he began an actor's training with the actors Helmuth Gmelin and Bernhard Minetti. He marri ...
, and
Jürgen Prochnow Jürgen Prochnow ( ; born 10 June 1941) is a German-American actor. His international breakthrough was his portrayal of the good-hearted and sympathetic U-boat Captain "Der Alte" ("Old Man") in the 1981 war film ''Das Boot''. He is also known f ...
. Egoyan said the film came at a time when the last of the Holocaust survivors and criminals were alive, and that trials underway in Germany also made the film timely. ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine specifically noted that the trial of
Reinhold Hanning Reinhold Hanning (28 December 1921 – 30 May 2017 The director claimed to find August's story unconventional and a "high-risk venture". Plummer, who was Egoyan's first and only choice for the part of Zev, stated he was also attracted to the project for its unconventional take on a historic subject.
Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began on July 14, 2014, with scenes filmed in
Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants ...
and
northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on part of the Superior Geological Pro ...
. For the scene in which Zev kills John Kurlander, Egoyan intended to use a
stunt double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...
for Plummer, but Plummer demanded he perform the scene himself. Plummer later told
CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
, "For a moment, I was a little bit pissed off.... Because it made me feel suddenly rather old." However, he admitted firing the gun "frightened" him because "they pack the kick of an elephant" and that he was "terrified" of the dog in the scene. Dean Norris said Plummer used this fear in his performance. The film had a $13 million budget.


Release

On May 11, 2015,
A24 A24 is an American independent entertainment company that specializes in film and television production, as well as film distribution. It is based in New York City. A24 was founded in 2012 by Daniel Katz, David Fenkel and John Hodges. Pr ...
acquired distribution rights to the film. ''Remember'' was screened in the main competition section of the
72nd Venice International Film Festival The 72nd annual Venice International Film Festival took place from 2 to 12 September 2015. Alfonso Cuarón served as the President of the Jury for the main competition. A restored version of Federico Fellini's film ''Amarcord'' was shown at the ...
on September 10, 2015, where it received a 10-minute standing ovation, and also screened at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival. The film was released in Canada on October 23, 2015. The film was released on
DirecTV Cinema DirecTV Cinema (previously known as Direct Ticket, Blockbuster Ticket, Blockbuster Pay-Per-View Movies, and DirecTV Pay-Per-View) is DirecTV's video on demand and pay-per-view platform for film content. Films are released as is done on other pay- ...
in the United States on December 17, 2015. The film was originally scheduled to open in the U.S in a
limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on January 15, 2016, but was delayed until February 12. It was then delayed again until March 11, 2016. According to ''
Box Office Mojo Box Office Mojo is an American website that tracks box-office revenue in a systematic, algorithmic way. The site was founded in 1998 by Brandon Gray, and was bought in 2008 by IMDb, which itself is owned by Amazon. History Brandon Gray began ...
'', the film grossed $1,184,564 in North America and $2,507,927 in other territories for a worldwide total of $3,692,491. The film made $800,000 in Canada, which was considered disappointing.


Reception


Critical response

On
Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 69%, based on 97 reviews, with an average rating of 6.40/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "''Remember'' risks wandering into exploitative territory, but it's bolstered by some of Egoyan's best latter-day directing and a typically stellar performance from Christopher Plummer".
Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
reports a score of 52 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Jeryl Brunner of ''
Parade A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
'' called it "one of the most powerful and unique Nazi revenge films to come around in a long time." Robbie Collin of ''
The Daily Telegraph ''The Daily Telegraph'', known online and elsewhere as ''The Telegraph'', is a national British daily broadsheet newspaper published in London by Telegraph Media Group and distributed across the United Kingdom and internationally. It was fo ...
'' called the John Kurlander scene "supremely tense" and the film more appealing than Egoyan's last films. John Lasser of ''
IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...
'' wrote "One of the things Egoyan does brilliantly here is to not only offer the larger tale but to work in incredibly tense smaller moments as well," and praised Plummer for "an utterly heartbreaking performance." Tashauna Reid of
CBC News CBC News is a division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for the news gathering and production of news programs on the corporation's English-language operations, namely CBC Television, CBC Radio, CBC News Network, and CBC.ca. ...
wrote "Egoyan takes audiences on an intricate, thrilling ride, with a few surprises along the way," called Plummer's acting "riveting," and
Martin Landau Martin James Landau (; June 20, 1928 – July 15, 2017) was an American actor, acting coach, producer, and editorial cartoonist. His career began in the 1950s, with early film appearances including a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's ''North ...
and
Dean Norris Dean Joseph Norris (born April 8, 1963) is an American actor. He is best known for playing DEA agent Hank Schrader on the AMC series ''Breaking Bad'' (2008–2013) and its spin-off '' Better Call Saul'' (2020). He also portrayed town council ...
"equally strong." Kate Taylor of ''
The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...
'' wrote, "''Remember'' is admirable– remarkably, it builds a drama of genuine suspense around the quest for vengeance of a forgetful 90-year-old– but it is also frustratingly limited in ways that can't really be discussed without revealing its surprise ending." Jake Wilson of ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' gave a more mixed review, judging the film to have a "gimmicky script by newcomer Benjamin August that borrows heavily from
Christopher Nolan Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his lucrative Cinema of the United States, Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. ...
's '' Memento''." Michael Rechtshaffen of the ''
Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'' also wrote "''Remember'' benefits mightily from a quietly commanding Christopher Plummer performance that almost makes you forget the wonky plot logic."
Richard Roeper Richard E. Roeper (born October 17, 1959) is an American columnist and film critic for the ''Chicago Sun-Times''. He co-hosted the television series '' At the Movies'' with Roger Ebert from 2000 to 2008, serving as the late Gene Siskel's success ...
panned the film as "bold but often ludicrous." Guy Lodge of ''
Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...
'' also disapproved, writing the film "puts a creditably sincere spin on material that is silly at best. At worst, tyro writer Benjamin August's screenplay is a crass attempt to fashion a ''Memento''-style puzzle narrative from post-Holocaust trauma." In January 2017, ''
The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' posted an analysis of the scene where Zev meets the character John Kurlander. The review noted some surface-level similarities between Norris' work as John and his role as Hank Schrader on '' Breaking Bad'', but its main focus was on how events in 2016 and growing vocalization of
white supremacists White supremacy or white supremacism is the belief that white people are superior to those of other races and thus should dominate them. The belief favors the maintenance and defense of any power and privilege held by white people. White s ...
served to make the scene much more disturbing and realistic than it felt when the film premiered in 2015.


Accolades


See also

* List of Canadian films of 2015 *
List of Holocaust films These films deal with the Holocaust in Europe, comprising both documentaries and narratives. They began to be produced in the early 1940s before the extent of the Holocaust at that time was widely recognized. The films span a range of genres, wit ...
*''
The Man in the Glass Booth ''The Man in the Glass Booth'' is a 1975 American drama film directed by Arthur Hiller. The film was produced and released as part of the American Film Theatre, which adapted theatrical works for a subscription cinema series. The screenplay was a ...
'', 1975 American film that also plays on confusion of identity between Holocaust victim and perpetrator


Notes


References


External links

* * * * * * *
Remember
' at
Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; french: Bibliothèque et Archives Canada) is the federal institution, tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is th ...

Official screenplay
{{DEFAULTSORT:Remember (2015 Film) 2015 films 2010s English-language films English-language Canadian films English-language German films 2010s German-language films 2015 thriller drama films Canadian thriller drama films German thriller drama films Films about Nazi hunters Canadian films about revenge German films about revenge Films about old age Films shot in Alberta Films shot in Toronto Films directed by Atom Egoyan Films scored by Mychael Danna A24 (company) films Films shot in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario 2015 drama films 2010s Canadian films 2010s German films