REMEMBER

Movie Review #2974

Another Nazi-hunt tale, this time featuring old Georg von Trappe himself (Christopher Plummer) as Zev, an Auschwitz survivor suffering from dementia & barely in control of his faculties & the inimitable Martin Landau (Mission Impossible anyone?), his friend Max. Max is also an ex-Auschwitz resident, wheelchair-bound but still pursuing retribution against those responsible for his & Zev's families' deaths in the camp.

Unable to pursue himself, Max constructs an elaborate paint-by-numbers plan that sees Zev escape from their retirement home & embark upon a cross country excursion to track down the main perpetrator, now living in the US under an assumed identity. Zev encounters all sorts of characters & obstacles along the way including an anti-Semitic cop, various small children, a stint in hospital, the Canadian border & other WWII veterans before cornering his quarry in a remote part of Lake Tahoe.

It's at this point the story elevates beyond the norm with a twist bigger than The Sixth Sense & the sudden realisation that things are not quite what they seem. Messrs Plummer & Landau are brilliant as the old geriatrics playing out rectitude in spite of their years with a superb supporting cast including Jurgen Prochnow as the hunted & provider of a few surprises.

Whilst not a thriller as such, the anticipation of 90yr old Zev actually being able to reach his & Max's goal kept me on the edge of my seat in a very strange manner that also had me completely estranged from the eventuality. Awesome movie, well-acted (especially the aforementioned Capt von Trappe) & a fabulous screenplay that keeps you totally engaged then reeling at the final.

Don't think I've ever done this but it's a 10/10.