Just watched the movie a couple days ago and thought it was great. the one thing I didn't understand was how did Fred have no idea he was Arctor? Isn't that the point of the narcs in the first place? To send an agent posing as a friend and druggie to crackdown on the dealers. I can see how Arctor's substance D abuse caused a split personality, but before he had gotten so addicted he must of know that he was Arctor. thank you for the clarity!
shareAt first, Fred did know he was Arctor (and vice-versa), but over the course of the movie his Substance D habit starts scrambling this and he loses track. It takes a while for it to happen, though, and even then he does have occasional "moments of clarity" where he remembers.
Al: "What do people do for fun in this town?"
Max: "They eat the dinner."
One of the main points in the book where Fred really forgets that he's Arctor is when he's watching the holo-scanner footage of the night Bob and Connie had sex. He sees 2 people laying in bed: a man and a woman. All of the sudden Connie turns into Donna, and he's terribly perplexed. He figures it must be some kind of technical glitch or tampering, but then all of the sudden he sees Bob awaken and look at Donna/Connie, horrified. So, Fred figures something to the effect of, "Well *beep* this Bob Arctor guy is seeing it too! That rules out a technical glitch. She must have really turned into donna", all the while not realizing that he *is* Arctor, and if Arctor hallucinated it, of course he would hallucinate it when viewing the tapes too.
This scene is in the movie, but you never get to hear Fred's inner monologue.