Memento is a 2000 film directed by Christopher Nolan that tells the story of Leonard Shelby, a man with short-term memory loss. He wakes up unable to remember anything after ten minutes and uses tattoos, notes, and Polaroids to hunt for the man who raped and killed his wife. A big part of the movie revolves around Sammy Jankis, a story Leonard repeats often to explain his condition.
Leonard says Sammy Jankis was his insurance client before the attack on his wife. Sammy had the same kind of memory problem after an accident at work with electric equipment. He could not form new memories but remembered his old life fine. Doctors tested Sammy a lot. They put him in a room and had him grab a paper mask from a drawer. He did it right every time until they changed the drawer. Then he failed because he forgot the test repeated. For more details on these tests, see this explanation video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7frEvaGxH8.
Sammy’s wife had diabetes and needed insulin shots twice a day. She did not believe his memory loss was real at first. To test him, she asked for shots more often. Sammy gave them because he forgot each time. After many shots, she went into an insulin coma and died. Leonard uses this story to warn people about conditionals, things that depend on belief, like his own memory issues. He says Sammy proved he had real memory loss because he could not stop the overdose even knowing the risk.
As the film unfolds backward and forward in color and black-and-white scenes, clues build. Leonard has scars from insulin tests done on him in jail. He talks about Sammy in a nursing home with two attendants, but photos show only one. His wife in flashbacks asks for extra shots just like Sammy’s wife. These hints come together in the twist.
The truth hits hard: there was no brutal murder by a drug dealer named John G. Leonard’s wife survived the rape but had short-term memory loss from the attack. She was the real Sammy Jankis. No, Leonard is Sammy Jankis. His real name is Sammy, and the story he tells is his own life. His wife tested him with insulin shots to see if his memory loss was real. He injected her too many times, killing her by overdose. He mixed up the details to cope and turned himself into the victim chasing a killer. For a breakdown of this twist, check this article: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/movie-twists-best-films-all-time-b2887657.html.
Leonard killed the rapist years ago but forgot. Now he tricks himself with notes and tattoos to keep hunting “John G.” He even sets up new games, like with Natalie and Teddy, to give himself purpose. The Sammy story hides his guilt. It shows how he built a system of notes to cope, just like he advised Sammy to do. This article dives into the film’s structure hiding these reveals: https://www.avclub.com/memento-s-puzzle-structure-hides-big-twists-and-bigger-1798234481.
The black-and-white scenes with Sammy were Leonard watching the real Sammy Jankis in a home, but he projected his own story onto it. Sammy existed but died of a seizure, not the insulin plot. Leonard’s brain twisted it all to live with what he did. Another view confirms Leonard’s wife lived after the rape and the Jankis tale is his: https://collider.com/great-mystery-movie-twists-remain-untouchable/.
Sources
https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/features/movie-twists-best-films-all-time-b2887657.html
https://collider.com/great-mystery-movie-twists-remain-untouchable/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W7frEvaGxH8
https://www.avclub.com/memento-s-puzzle-structure-hides-big-twists-and-bigger-1798234481
