# 'MEMENTO' movie question... **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 27, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071 "2002-05-27T18:04:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Deacons\_Trucked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d78d45/32.png) [@Deacons\_Trucked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deacons_Trucked)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/1 "2002-05-27T18:04:35Z")
Was there a REAL Sammy Jankis? Who was he? Why did Teddy call him a con man and a fraud? Why did he say Sammy had no wife? Are we supposed to think that there was no Sammy, that Leonard just made up that story to describe his own situation with his own wife? ---
**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/2 "2002-05-27T18:13:41Z")
I think Sammy was real, but his wife was a confluence of Leonard’s inner voice (the discussion of whether Sammy was faking it) and Leonard’s wife (the part about the insulin injections). ---
**Author:** ![stankow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cdc98d/32.png) [@stankow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stankow)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/3 "2002-05-27T18:20:23Z")
I think Sammy was real, but his wife was a confluence of Leonard’s inner voice (the discussion of whether Sammy was faking it) and Leonard’s wife (the part about the insulin injections). ---
**Author:** ![White\_Lightning](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@White\_Lightning](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/White_Lightning)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/4 "2002-05-28T02:43:19Z")
I agree with **stankow** ’s first post, but the second was pure bunk. ---
**Author:** ![Kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b19c9b/32.png) [@Kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kat)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/5 "2002-05-28T04:32:20Z")
I disagree, **White Lightning**. **stankow** was completely and totally incorrect in his first post, but he saved his good name and reputation with the information in that second one. ---
**Author:** ![drpepper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@drpepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drpepper)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/6 "2002-05-28T04:42:56Z")
Aw, c’mon, peeps, next you’ll be telling me that some doper is going to put up a post questioning the existence of the Sammy Jankis character. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/7 "2002-05-28T04:51:39Z")
I think stankow just forgot he’d made his point when he posted again. Leonard’s wife was _also_ trying to get Leonard to “snap out of it”, so I don’t quite buy the “confluence” part. Sadly, I missed the first five minutes of the movie, so I don’t know how it “ends”. I’ll have to watch it when it plays again on cable. I’d better write that down before I forget. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/8 "2002-05-28T05:19:30Z")
What am I doing here? What’s with all these tattoos? Did I leave the oven on? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/9 "2002-05-28T05:24:10Z")
If everything that Teddy says is (apparently) a lie, why should we believe _any_ of his last speech in the film? Why should _any_ of it be true? ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/10 "2002-05-28T06:55:42Z")
Who says _everything_ Teddy says is a lie? In fact, I think one thing the film establishes is that people are apt to tell Leonard the unvarnished truth (at least some of the time), on the logical grounds that he won’t remember it anyway. For example, Burt the motel clerk very cheerfully admits that he’s booked Leonard into two rooms; he also notes that this admission won’t matter, since Leonard won’t remember he said it anyway. Of course, it’s possible Burt is still lying–maybe Burt has Leonard booked into _three_ rooms, we don’t know for sure–but an even clearer example of a character telling Leonard the unvarnished truth comes with Natalie’s speech. She tells him exactly what’s she’s going to do, and we know she’s essentially telling him the plain truth because we’ve already seen her do it. Teddy’s revelation about Sammy Jankis comes in a similar situation–a character is saying “I’m going to tell you the complete truth, and it won’t matter, because you won’t remember it anyway.” (Of course, in this case Leonard manages to do something before his memory blanks out, namely leave himself a note implicating Teddy, leading to the ending/beginning of the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/11 "2002-05-28T09:51:18Z")
I think Sammy’s story is a very clever plot device. I don’t know how anterograde amnesia works in real life, but in the movie the only way Lenny could know what was up with him was for him to know about his condition before the accident. Sammy is a great way to accomplish this. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 9:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/12 "2002-05-28T09:58:02Z")
Was there a REAL Sammy Jankis? Who was he? Why did Teddy call him a con man and a fraud? Why did he say Sammy had no wife? Are we supposed to think that there was no Sammy, that Leonard just made up that story to describe his own situation with his own wife? ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/13 "2002-05-28T10:23:15Z")
I think we are supposed to believe what Teddy says in the last scene. That should answer your questions thusly: Yes. A con man who faked amneisa. Because he was. Because he had no wife. No, but Lenny did make up part of that story. ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/14 "2002-05-28T14:55:27Z")
I’m buying a DVD player just because of this movie. Apparently you can play a version in true chronological order, which I think would be kinda cool. Definitely not as good, but cool. ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/15 "2002-05-28T16:09:45Z")
**August** , be aware that you will have to buy either the new “Limited Edition” DVD (with a light blue cover that looks like a medical file) or the Canadian version of the original-release DVD in order to watch the chronological version of the film. ---
**Author:** ![middleman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e9a140/32.png) [@middleman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/middleman)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/16 "2002-05-28T16:16:30Z")
I wonder if \*stankow \* really exists! ---
**Author:** ![August\_West](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/august_west/32/18069_2.png) [@August\_West](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/August_West)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/17 "2002-05-28T16:18:02Z")
Thanks, **Knead**!! ---
**Author:** ![CheapBastid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8baadc/32.png) [@CheapBastid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheapBastid)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/18 "2002-05-28T18:33:22Z")
I borrowed a friend’s LE DVD of Memento and it is neat (but annoying). Yes, there’s a ‘hidden’ feature where you can view the film in chronological order. Also, being able to freeze frame and slo-mo frame by frame you will notice that in the shot of Sammy Jankis seated on a chair in a mental institution there is a quick few frames of Leonard sitting in the chair instead of Sammy. This is more fodder for the theory that Leondard killed his wife (who survived the rape and attack) via insulin injection and then projected that onto Sammy. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/19 "2002-05-28T18:58:43Z")
CheapBastid, I give those frames any more credence than I do the scene of Leonard in bed with his wife with “I did it” tattooed on his chest (especially considering that the tattoo “John G. raped and killed my wife” is there as well). That flash of Lenny is very _un_like flashes of Tyler Durden in Fight Club - subliminal hints of what really is true. ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2002, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071/20 "2002-05-28T19:02:32Z")
Please insert “don’t” between “I” and “give”. Gracias. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/memento-movie-question/111071.md?page=2)