Memento, a film by Christopher Nolan, is a rather interesting adaption of a short story by Jonathan Nolan called Memento Mori. However, if you looked at both of these pieces without knowing their connection it is hard to understand that they are related.
The differences between Memento and Memento Mori aren't too extensive. The main idea of a man with memory loss who has lost his wife and now wants revenge is still there. And there are more similarities between the two main characters. Like the fact that they both use tattoos to make notes on the body with tattoos. You could also point out that the two characters don’t have the same tattoos however.
The adaptation made by Nolan is clearly a loose adaptation. I feel however that this is the only way that it could be done in order to make an interesting film. In the short story the audience quickly understands that the character has memory loss. It had to be quick because Jonathan only had a limited amount of time. But, since Christopher Nolan had an ample amount of time he was able to go more in depth with the idea of the memory loss and the viewer got a better understanding of what the main character was going through.
Memento Mori also chooses to only focus on the one main character, Earl, instead of include us in the entire story. Earl starts us out in a mental institution, unsure of how long he has been there. The story then jumps to Earl outside of the mental institution and on the hunt for his wife’s killer. The short story finishes with Earl finding and killing the murdering rapist, but of course he soon forgets. This extremely basic story line is very similar to the Memento story. The Memento story however goes much more in depth, develops other characters, and offers an explanation to how he found his supposed killer
Overall I feel that the adaptation made by Christopher Nolan of Memento Mori was successful, but it was a successful loose adaptation. I think that this is the only way that it could have been done, however, in order to make a worthwhile movie that really grabbed the viewer in a way that they could understand the first time they watched it.
