The Ending: Teddy (Joe Pantoliano) reveals that Leonard (Guy Pearce) avenged his wife's attacker over a year earlier and that he himself actually killed his wife with an accidental insulin overdose sometime following the assault due to his amnesia . The Sammy Jankis story was half-invented to mentally block his own mistake, and in the final scene, Leonard erases any proof of Teddy's truths before his memory loss again takes hold. In addition, he has Teddy's license plate number tattooed on himself and writes "Don't believe his lies" on a Polaroid of him, which will of course lead to Leonard murdering Teddy, believing him to be his wife's second attacker. Why It's Awesome: The mountain of revelations at the climax completely re-configures the audience's perception of the movie's events, and of course, Leonard's decision to deceive himself is an extremely shocking narrative sleight of hand which viewers likely didn't see coming. That Leonard would rather construct this narrative for himself than face up to the truth is a striking comment about the human condition and the notion of "ignorance is bliss", even when it involves the death of another (though Teddy was no angel). More than any movie on this list, you need to watch Memento again after its ending has unfolded to truly get the most out of it.
Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes).
General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.
