Remember

"Remember," an extraordinary revenge tragedy about an Auschwitz survivor who discovers that the man who murdered his family is living in America, is loaded with cinematic gold - legendary actors, thought provoking themes of justice and identity, suspense, gunplay and neo-Nazis. Plus, the main character and the villain are both over ninety years-old.

"Do you remember what you said you would do when Ruth died?" Max Rosenbaum, (Academy Award-winning Martin Landau) says to Zev Guttman (fellow Oscar winner Christopher Plummer). The two of them have reunited in an American nursing home after their first meeting in a German concentration camp during the Second World War.

"No," says Zev, who now suffers from dementia. Each time he wakes he can hardly recall who he is.

"That's okay, it's okay," Max assures. "I wrote everything down so you could remember."

To escape justice, German soldiers took on the identities of Jewish people they killed during their country's genocide and fled to the United States. Since the end of the war they have been living new lives with stolen identities. The man that murdered Max and Zev's families has taken on the identity of Rudy Kurlander, and there are four men from Auschwitz still alive with that name.

Zev must track down and bring the man who has masked his identity as Kurlander to justice, but he only has this letter from Max to remind him of who he is and what he is doing from day to day.

Canadian auteur Atom Egoyan proves once again that he is a master of suspense and pacing. The narrative sneaks up on you slowly, a far off dog barking in the first frames of the film echoes back in a climactic confrontation with a neo-Nazi in the middle of the film. There are no cheesy flashbacks to put us in our protagonist's head. Instead, train compartments, guileless children and showerheads evoke the atrocities of a mass ethnic cleansing in modern day synecdoches.

Two substantial special features mark this Blu-ray collection, as well as audio commentaries with the director, producer and writer. One special feature focuses on the legendary actors in this film, and the other gives us a good deal of information about the Nazis and their concentration camps. Valuable but very disturbing, it comes complete with historic footage.

"Remember"
Blu-ray $17.99
ca.eonefilms.com/films/remember