Contradictions in the movie “Memento”

The movie “Memento” was selected as the best movie in 2001. It depicts the story of insurance fraud investigator, Leonard Shelby, who loses his short term memory after the accident. Critical point in the movie is the point in Shelby’s recollections since he cannot recall all previous events. Persons with anterograde loss of memory on the whole are not able to reproduce the events starting the second of injury. More often, they cannot reflect anything starting with the moment of damage itself. In case of Leonard, he kept in mind events that made happen his injury in addition to his wife’s death, but also was interested in his diagnosis, that clearly took place later than the injury. As such, independence of representation of these concepts in “Memento” is doubtful.

Speaking about typical actions exhibited by the main character following the injury and all the way through his investigation, they are properly represented in terms of the fundamental principles discussed in the document – procedural memory and short term memory. An individual has a limited storage space of short term memory. Information that is kept in his memory contains the sensory contribution from what he sees, his own communication, and the recovered data out of the long term memory. Permanent recording of the consequent events is also the only explanation that Leonard can take into consideration in his situation. Shelby really has the procedural memory – he is able to learn automatically new information.

That’s why, the primary contradiction found in the picture is connected to the time period enclosed by Shelby’s time period, in view of the fact that he remembers and understands his own diagnosis, which is strange if not unbearable in this situation.