“It’s not what you say, but how you say it.” You may or may not have heard this before, and you can agree or disagree with it, but this statement carries some truth with it. A script can have an interesting setting, captivating characters, and be completely cohesive, but if the narrative is not entertaining, the movie is doomed before it reaches page two. As such, screenwriters’ first goal is to grab the viewers’ attention right from the start.
As it happens, an effective way to do it is to begin the story at the ending - or end it at the beginning, for that matter. The so-called “inverted narrative” instantly triggers the public’s curiosity, making them eager to find out how it all happened to get to that point. This is not a particularly new technique, nor it is too hard to find, but some movies excelle in their reverse chronology story, blowing people’s minds at the end – or should we say in the beginning?
10Forrest Gump (1994)
Forrest Gump
Few movies have been able to permeate pop culture in such a way asForrest Gump. The film, withTom Hanks assuming the title character’s role, introduces a man from Greenbow, Alabama with certain learning disabilities. As he tries to figure out the world with his simplistic, chaste vision, Forrest takes part in some of America’s decisive moments, going through hell or high water to be with his lifelong friend and love interest, Jenny.
Forrest Gumpbegins with one of the most iconic frames in the last decades. Forrest, in his suit and buttoned-up checkered shirt, sits at a bus stop. As strangers come by, he recounts his life tales, from childhood to Vietnam vet, steamboat captain to random-running activism. In the end, as it is revealed what he has been to, just seeing him there, with his dorky interwoven legs, is as wonderful as it is touching.
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9Amadeus (1984)
In Vienna, during the late 18th century, Antonio Salieri enjoyed great esteem as the court composer for Emperor Joseph II. Until one day, a flamboyant young man shows at the royal palace, displaying a musical talent Salieri could only dream of having. His name: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Salieri fosters a deep admiration for Mozart, but also holds a grudge for becoming overshadowed by his genius.
Amadeusbegins with an old Salieri living in a psychiatric hospital, attempting suicide. While having his wounds treated at the medical wing, he claims to be overcome by guilt for being the one responsible for Mozart’s untimely death. The film’s events are narrated, and conclude with Salieri leaving the medical wing, driven mad by the love-hate relation towards his lifelong rival.
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8The Butterfly Effect (2004)
The Butterfly Effect
“A butterfly flapping wings in one corner of the world can form a tornado in the other.” That is the general idea of the butterfly effect that gives name to the film. The story follows Evan Treborn, a college student with a history of mysterious blackouts occurred in his youth and adolescence. As he reads his old diaries, he manages to go back to crucial moments of his past. However, for every wrong he attempts to mend in the past, a twisted turn of events leads to even worse outcomes in the present/future.
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The Butterfly Effectstarts with Evan as a patient in a mental hospital writing a letter, promising “that was going to be his last attempt of making things right”. As the story goes, the public is taken by the same moment in the end. But now convinced, like Evan, that there is no way to stop the tornado. If the butterfly flaps its wings, there might be consequences.
7Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Saving Private Ryan
The horrors of World War II have been portrayed in numerous films over the years, butSaving Private Ryanis definitely among the most shocking ones. After the Allied invasion of the Normandy coast, the fateful D-Day, Cpt. John Miller is assigned to find Pvt. James Ryan, who had his three brothers killed in action. As Ryan’s whereabouts are a complete mystery, Miller and his subordinates start to question the ethics of risking all their lives for one man.
Saving Private Ryanis especially remembered for thescene where the Normandy invasionis depicted with gruesomely accurate details. However, the film really begins with a senior gentleman walking across an Allied combatants' cemetery. In the ending, viewers are sent back to the same scene, as the elderly man is revealed to be Ryan. He sobs in gratitude for his fallen comrades, leading to the conclusion that, in a war, saving a life is the one decent thing that can ever be accomplished.
6Inception (2010)
The film that cemented Christopher Nolan as one of the most creative minds in cinema,Inceptionis still the subject of theories about its meaning and, especially,its conclusion. It introduces Cobb, a con man able to access people’s minds via their dreams, stealing whatever valuable information they might possess. As Cobb dives deep into dream worlds, he starts to lose his perception of what is real.
The movie’s opening scene sees Cobb being found on the shore of an island. Brought inside, he is questioned by a man who asks if Cobb is there to kill him. As viewers learn that the man is Saito, and watch the events that lead them there,Inceptionconcludes by going back to the same scene. But now, having a full picture of what has happened, just imagining what Saito has been through (and for how long) is nerve-racking.
5The Two Popes (2019)
The Two Popes
Even though it is a fictional account,The Two Popesis based on the real-life events surrounding the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI, something that had not happened for centuries. Benedict attends a meeting at the request of Cardinal Jorge Bergoglio, and the two clash over their fundamentally opposed views on many things. As the two grow closer, Benedict has a change of heart, and is convinced that God sent Bergoglio there for a reason: he should be the new Pope.
Anthony Hopkins and Jonathan Price’s dazzling performances makeThe Two Popescheerful but still substantial. The beginning and ending scenes are good examples. Initially, we hear Pope Francis' voice trying to book a flight to Argentina on the phone, only to be discredited by the attendant. The ending scene shows Francis asking the Wi-Fi password to a young Swiss Guard trooper standing outside the papal apartments, since the only way to do this booking is online.
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4City of God (2002)
Fernando Meirelles gets another spot on this list withCity of God. In the 1960s, the City of God community was one of Rio de Janeiro’s biggest favelas. Overlooked by the authorities, the community sees crime gradually rising, with ruthless drug trafficker Zé Pequeno (or “Li’l Zé”) running the bingo. When rival gangs challenge Pequeno’s control, the favela suffers with the growing violence, while its inhabitants try to carry on with their daily lives.
City of God’sopening scene is the iconic “chicken chase”. As Buscapé (or “Rocket”, the movie’s narrator) is ordered to pick up the bird, the boy is caught in the middle of a Mexican stand-off between Pequeno’s and his rival’s gang, pointing guns at one another. As he questions “how did I end up here?” the camera performs a Matrix-like spin and the movie goes back in time to show exactly how it happened. By the end, audiences are thrown back to the same scene, now aware of all the hardships Buscapé (and the chicken) had to endure to be there.
3Fight Club (1999)
Fight Club
What happens when you mix nihilistic philosophies, personality disorders, and underground boxing clubs as therapy sessions?Fight Clubanswers that in the best possible way. A white-collar, everyday bloke suffers with his incurable insomnia. One day, he “meets” eccentric, cooler-than-cool soap salesperson Tyler Durden. Together, they start a movement that offers their followers an alternative to their mediocre existence, freeing them from the shackles of society.
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“Memorable” is an understatement forFight Club’sopening scene. As the public travels inside the Narrator’s tongue and Tyler’s gun barrel, they are left in the dark, as the first “can’t think of anything to say”. Back to the end, when The Narrator/Tyler “stillcan’t think of anything” to say to The Narrator/Tyler, there is nothing left to do but to sketch a smile, sit back, and watch the world’s financial system crumbles.
2Memento (2001)
Mementois certainly one of the first films that come to mind when thinking of non-linear narratives. The movie follows Leonard Shelby, a man who suffers continuous short-term memory losses ever since he got clubbed in the head by the men who raped and murdered his wife. Switching between black-and-white chronological sequences and reverse color sequences, the movie gradually unveils Leonard’s story.
The whole point ofMementois how the beginning and the end meet, as the two sequences are moving towards each other. The beginning shows Leonard taking a Polaroid picture of a dead man. As the story closes, viewers are not only aware that he killed the wrong guy, but that there is no right one. To cope with the grief of what he has done, Leonard chooses to chase one different ghost at a time, for that is his only motivation to live.
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1Pulp Fiction (1994)
Pulp Fiction
As it is shown on this list, there are more than good examples of movies that, to some extent, incorporated chronologically reverse techniques that worked fine. But it is difficult to find one that uses a non-linear narrative to tell a story better thanPulp Fiction. The movie presents intertwined stories depicting some of the most unusual dire straits of crime life. Some of these include retrieving a suitcase from burger-loving crooks, taking a wife’s boss to dinner, and saving a friend whose wedding is in peril after an associate’s head got accidentally blown up.
It is hard to choosePulp Fiction’s most iconic scene, but theopening/ending sequencewould be a good pick. In the beginning, a loving couple of robbers decide to do a job at the very place they are having breakfast. By the end, audiences find that two of the diner’s clients are two thugs having averybad day. There could be no better way to close Quentin Tarantino’smagnum opus. A perfect movie, from end to beginning.
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