The Forgotten – 2004. Julianne Moore, Dominic West, Anthony Edwards, Alfre Woodard, Gary Sinise, Linus Roche.
Telly Paretta (Moore) is still grieving for the death of her nine year old son Sam who died 14 months before in a plane crash during a field trip. Then it happens – her husband and psychiatrist do a 180 one day, claiming she never had a son and fabricated his memory as some sort of delusion. One by one, pictures and memorabilia from Sam disappear, leaving Telly with nothing but her memories and conviction that he did exist…even if nobody else remembers, and all the evidence has disappeared. She embarks on a mission to get to the bottom of what’s going on, enlisting the help of fellow Brooklyn neighborhood resident Ash Correll, (West) who, like everybody else, has no recollection of Sam either…or his own daughter Lauren, who was friends with Sam and died along with him.
The Forgotten is slightly different from the other five movies mentioned here in that it’s not about “faked” reality – but it is about manipulated reality and hidden controllers, and reality not being what it seems to be. This is a great movie that’s been overlooked and maligned by people that I consider to be doing “damage control” with their negative reviews. There are many parallels to “Dark City” with this movie, so if one of them isn’t your cup of tea, then the other should work. ;)
Key elements
The alien manipulators / UFOs – At the end of the scene where Telly is being chased through the streets by the NSA, the camera turns upwards and we see a “cloud ship” in the sky. Right then, if you’re observant, you’ll know…whatever’s happening here involves aliens / UFOs. What I also liked about this was that it depicted the UFO in a more realistic light. Instead of the standard dancing, singing, musical Steven Spielberg UFO, we get the ominous cloud ship, disguised in the sky. This is how the “big boys” work. When one is parked over an area during daylight, “working”, this is what you’ll see, not the colorful musical Spielberg version. This is the first time that I can recall seeing a UFO portrayed this way in a movie.
The NSA – This was the first movie that I know of to feature the NSA as the conspiratorial government “Them” behind things. Usually you only hear about the CIA, the FBI, all the standard unrealistic “yawn” fare. But the NSA? VERY realistic in that regard. The NSA is behind more than people know. And the fact that the NSA was working in cahoots with the aliens was even better. An NSA agent explains to Telly that they literally have no choice but to work with them. Cooperate or die.
Timeline manipulation / behind the scenes manipulators – Bit by bit, evidence of Sam disappears, and nobody around Telly remembers that he ever existed. Like in “Dark City,” the manipulators erase people’s memories and create new realities as they see fit, playing people like puppets for their own personal experiment.
One always gets away – Like John Murdoch in Dark City, our heroine slips through the cracks, she remembers and sees through things, even when nobody else can. One always gets away – or three, as Telly’s cohort Ash eventually wakes up, and Ann Pope (Woodard) is able to glimpse the truth for herself as well. Manipulators can’t control them all. There will always be anomalies. That is why in our “real” world, there are those who are awake and see through the nonsense while the vast majority does not.
Key quotes –
Dr. Munse:“You’re just a lab rat to them.”
Summary – Analogous truth in The Forgotten involves, once again, those behind the scenes hyper dimensional controllers, except this time, working in cahoots with certain factions of the U.S. government. People’s lives are manipulated and toyed with, government agents are involved in monitoring abduction targets, and pretty much nobody ever wakes up to what’s going on or questions things.
When seeing movie like this I have the impression that they think I am an imbecile... 
But I did not see the alternative end.
