The Holocaust film Remember is set in the present. The thriller contains no flashbacks. It takes place entirely in North America. And yet Remember is also one of the most powerful and unique Nazi revenge films to come around in a long time.
At the movie's center are two Holocaust survivors Max (Martin Landau) and Zev (Christopher Plummer), living out the end of their days in a retirement home. Max may be frail and hooked to an oxygen tank, but he's unstoppable and intrepid in his quest to hunt down the vicious guard at Auschwitz who was responsible for his family's murder. Zev has dementia but is physically able to get around.
When Max masterminds a plan for his friend Zev to go on an elaborate quest to find and take revenge on the guard, their lives are transformed. The film masterfully manages to be an epic in scope, but is also intimate. Plummer and Landau deftly portray these nuanced characters and provide the great opportunity to see two acting titans with serious movie cred deliver knock-it-out-of-the-ballpark performances.
Atom Egoyan, Remember's prolific director (Chloe, The Sweet Hereafter) talked to Parade and shared his thoughts on Christopher Plummer, Martin Landau and why Remember is so timely. Click to this story to read the entire interview.