Remember Me --Unforgettable Ending

Back in February of this year when Remember Me had mass distribution in the U.S., I remember thinking I should go to see this film for two major reasons. First, because the charming and very watchable Robert Pattinson was starring in it; second, because I saw a couple of the NYU scenes being shot right outside Washington Square Park and in one of the NYU buildings (well, I didn't see the scenes so much as the massive crowd of screaming tween girls that encompassed the entire set). Anyway, the theatrical release did not last too long and I never got around to seeing it until the other day when I watched the DVD. It was then that I unexpectedly found another reason why I and others should see this film.

The story is rather tragic and high drama, following the lives of two young college students in New York City. This much I already knew from the trailers. Pattinson plays Tyler, a 21-year-old who lost his older brother seven years ago when he committed suicide at the age of 22. Tyler has trouble letting go and lives with this unresolved grief and anger everyday. Most of his rage is directed at his father who he blames for Michael's death and who he strongly believes is an unfit father, putting work ahead of his children. Ally, played by Emilie De Ravin, witnessed the cold murder of her mother in the subway when she was eleven and now must deal with the fact that her father is having some trouble with letting her grow up and be a more independent college student.

However, it is the last five minutes, which came rather unexpectedly for me, that makes the movie a very effective 9/11 movie and horribly tragic without even any footage of the airplanes hitting the towers or the massive physical devastation. The entire film demonstrates the great impact that slow disclosure can have on an audience. This is slow disclosure at its height. The rest of the movie suddenly has such a different context. It is almost jolting --I believe I even gasped when young Caroline's teacher wrote the date on the chalkboard: "Tuesday, September 11, 2001" and again when the camera dramatically pulled back from Tyler looking out of his father's office building to reveal it is on one of the top floors of the South Twin Tower Building. The ultimate effect of this jarring realization completely parallels what that day was really like for Americans and New Yorkers. Everyone's lives where leading up to it, but none of us knew it. Then, all of a sudden there it was, interrupting millions of lives directly and indirectly in such a profound way. Pre-September 11th we were all tragically ignorant of this devastating event, could not even imagine it and were just going about our lives, our daily struggles, our regular ups and downs. Dealing with family situations, dealing with school and work, and relationships.

That sudden drop of my stomach felt all too familiar. What I had seen as a movie about malcontent, struggling youth that I felt slightly detached from, had instantly hit home and conjured up many of the feelings and sadness that I felt that horrible day. The writer and director also captured the sad irony of the day. It was an absolutely beautiful day --not a cloud in the brilliant blue sky, warm, sweet-smelling. School had started only a couple weeks earlier and it felt like the kind of day where things were bright and looking up, that anything was possible --much the way Tyler probably felt while looking at his father's screensaver of all the family photos and realizing that he really does love and care about his children.

Even before it is revealed what infamous day it is, I was starting to get a bad feeling about things. First of all, so far in the movie, very little had gone well for Tyler, and this certainly was how he felt about his life. It seemed like he could never truly be happy, despite the moments of joy with Ally, and the viewer becomes convinced of this fact as well. Something doesn't feel right. It is like Tyler must now pay for the fact that he had made amends with his father and saw that glimpse into the real man, a loving father. He even reconciled with Ally after their falling out. In case all these clues are too subtle, the ominous soundtrack leaves no doubt in your mind that something terrible is going to happen very soon.

So, I have been unable to get these final images out of my head --from this movie that I never expected to reach me on this level. I also keep thinking, what are the filmmakers trying to say about this day and more generally about life. I know they want us to be able to put a face and an identity on a victim that so easily can become a number (though this particular "victim" is fictitious). There are tens-of-thousands of other stories that could have been told, but we just happened to get a glimpse into the life of Tyler --there were all kinds of different people who died in those buildings and on those planes with complex lives and rich paths that ended abruptly on that day. The Gandhi quote in the movie (spoken as a voice over by Tyler) first heard in the beginning and then later at the end also speaks to this: "Whatever you do will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it." I also think, as evident by the final scene with Ally finally riding the subway again (something she hadn't done since her mother was murdered)and somehow mustering up a thoughtful smile, that the filmmakers are saying that though we don't have to and should not forget (Remember Me) people after losing them that it is necessary to move on and move forward. But, what is the lesson taken from Tyler's tragic life, ultimately dying at the same age as his brother and all too young? The most heart-wrenching thing is that if it were not for those series of positive events leading up to this sad climax, Tyler would never even be sitting in his father's office and in the line of danger. Would it have been better for his life to continue on that same steady but painful track, but he still be alive? Or, does this moment of him making peace with everything make the tragedy somehow OK? Why is he stuck between this rock and hard place? Why can't he have the peace and joy and his life? Maybe because life is sometimes unfair --like for all those people who died that day. Maybe because sometimes there just aren't answers. Maybe all we can really hope for in life is that when we die someone will keep us alive in their thoughts and memories of us.