MovieChat Forums > Remember (2015) Discussion > (Spoilers) Max's Flawed Strategy?

(Spoilers) Max's Flawed Strategy?

posted 8 years ago by Audriano
5 replies | jump to latest

Although it seems somewhat implausible that Zev could be tricked into this 'revenge plan' — because killing someone would require a genuine memory and emotion, so strong one would consent to a murder mission — eventually I'm willing to accept this deficiency.

But answer me this: why would Max tell Zev that Rudy was in fact Otto, not Kunibert? What's the motive? If anything, Max would risk exposing his plot by triggering Zev's true identity. I know that this way it's more interesting and twisted in the end, but there was really no need for Max to hide Rudy's real, Kunibert Sturm, identity.

Perhaps Max aimed for the 'double effect' (which, I guess, he eventually got) and hope that this twisted identity clash would shock Zev and do the damage? But realistically, what Max could hope for, best case scenario, — Zev kills Rudy and Zev goes to jail.

If he wanted to shock Zev by Rudy revealing him he's actually Otto, that could've happened anyway — if Zev threatens Rudy-Kunibert, Rudy's reaction would still be pretty much the same: hey, what are you doing, buddy, Otto?

Anyway, I still think the film is brilliant. Although it doesn't reach the complexity of Memento.

[–] baz678 8 years ago

I guess Max saw poetic justice in Zev hunting down himself.

[–] CobblersAwls 8 years ago

But answer me this: why would Max tell Zev that Rudy was in fact Otto, not Kunibert?

Not sure, but I think the reason was that the focus Max had was on both Kunibert and perhaps Otto equally as targets.

But he schooled Zev only in Otto just to focus the work to get both Nazis in the end. Max evidently honestly did not know which Rudy was the right Kunibert.

But guess he was banking on Zev being informed by Kunibert that HE was Otto himself, once Zev found the right guy. Then guess Max hoped would happen what did actually happen. He after all made sure Zev had a gun---the infaous "Chekhov's gun."

I strongly suspect that while Max spent his life after the war working to capture and prosecute the Nazis like Otto and Kunibert who really were directly involved in war crimes, Max may have had a special hatred for Otto for some reason having to do with events at the camp. So he focused on the Otto story.

It;s like Kunibert was a good one to find and get rid of--but Max really did have a thing about Otto.

On reflection, I cannot imagine how Max must have felt the first time he went into Zev's room upon meeting him and saw the wedding photo of "Zev" and his wife, Ruth, taken in 1946.

Otto would have obviously looked exactly how Max remembered him from just a couple of years prior.

It must have been a stunning moment for Max to realize who he was after all those years of wanting to find him.

Also, did anybody else notice in the last shot on the camera zooming in on Otto in his Nazi uniform that Max had in his file....that the young Otto looked just like Charlie his son? They did a good photo shop to make that photo look like Czerny.

Imagine also every time Charlie came to see his father---Max had to look into the replica of the younger face of Otto as he appeared when he killed his family.

It must have creeped out Max to say the least the first time he saw Charlie.

[–] nelsong 7 years ago

"Max may have had a special hatred for Otto for some reason.."

Well, keep in mind that "Zev" spent the last 70 years of his life fraudulently passing himself off as a Jew, not just to the outside world, but even to his wife and children.

That's above and beyond anything "Rudy Kurlander" was doing, and probably why Max detested "Zev" so much.

[–] indiekid76 7 years ago

Zev cannot remember his crimes and Max wanted him to die knowing what he was.

[–] 7 years ago

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