The tattoo on Zev Guttman’s arm is not there for decoration. As a Holocaust survivor, with a concentration-camp number permanently etched on his forearm, Zev bears the tattoo as a relic of a nightmarish past.
But in “Remember,” the tattoo serves another function. Zev, a 90-year-old widower played by Christopher Plummer, is suffering from dementia. The numbers are a reminder of who he is.
Screenwriter Benjamin August’s slightly crazy premise is that Zev is out to kill a particularly nasty SS guard he knew in Auschwitz. He has left his retirement home armed with a letter written by a fellow survivor (Martin Landau, haunting), who is intellectually sharp but too physically restricted to do the deed himself.
Zev reads the letter, which contains his detailed instructions, whenever his mind loses its focus. He’s to find a man named Martin Kurlander, determine that he is in fact the guard, and kill him on the spot.
“Remember” becomes an odyssey, because there are a handful of Kurlanders spread across North America. Like the hero of “Memento,” Zev is fighting his own lack of memory as well as the challenge of detective work.
If you look at it too closely, the concept becomes implausible. But director Atom Egoyan (“The Sweet Hereafter”), who plays it all absolutely straight, creates enough suspense to almost sustain this journey.
He’s aided immeasurably by Christopher Plummer, who is believably bemused and resolute. Plummer has only gotten better in the decades since he was dodging Nazis in “The Sound of Music,” and his big physical presence gives you the feeling Zev could keep going even when his minds wavers.
Among the men playing the Kurlanders, Bruno Ganz and Jurgen Prochnow have strong scenes. But one long sequence is dominated by Dean Norris (a “Breaking Bad” regular), who plays the son of a former Nazi.
As Zev sits with this guy in his bland living room, he gradually realizes that the house is a shrine to the “good old days” of Hitler and the Third Reich. Norris’s intensity provides a scary portrait of a true believer.
Ultimately I don’t think “Remember” locks down its premise. There’s the air of a 1970s TV movie about it, especially given the hefty twists in the plot.
It has its moments, though. And Plummer’s performance shows an actor in full command of his resources, even as the man he plays is losing his.
“Remember” 2 1/2 stars
An uneven tale with a slightly crazy premise: a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor (Christopher Plummer), suffering from dementia, sets out to kill the Auschwitz guard who lives in hiding somewhere in North America. Atom Egoyan’s film doesn’t entirely work, but it has its moments and Plummer gives a commanding performance.
Rating: R, for violence, language
Showing: Sundance Cinemas
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