The Man Without a Past

Released 2002
Stars Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, Juhani Niemelä, Kaija Pakarinen, Sakari Kuosmanen
Directed by Aki Kaurismaki

Amnesia is a common movie plot device – it probably occurs about 1000 times more often on screen than in real life. Some of the best thrillers use this as a lynchpin, but, while The Man Without a Past starts out looking like a noir Hitchcock homage, it's really nothing of the sort. Instead of using the main character's amnesia as a means of generating mystery and suspense, Kaurismaki employs it as a catalyst for rebirth. The Man Without a Past is about starting over, and how the absence of memory allows an individual to wipe clean the slate of his life and begin afresh. This gives new meaning to the term "born again."

The film begins with an unnamed man (Markku Peltola) being robbed and brutally beaten at a train station. He is brought to a nearby hospital, where, after being pronounced dead, he unexpectedly awakens from a coma with no memory. After a period of convalescence, during which his injuries heal, he emerges into the local community – an economically depressed area where families live in disused tractor trailers – with the intention of making a difference. After attracting the attention of Irma (Kati Outinen), a female Salvation Army worker, he begins working with her. Eventually, the two embark upon a tentative romance, but it is complicated by the man's inability to remember anything about his past, including whether or not he is already married.

Summary by James Berardinelli

I didn't know what this movie was about, and it opens with a beating so brutal I couldn't watch it. I thought it was going to be some kind of revenge thriller when the main character came back from the dead, but it's really a droll comedy about starting over. It's set in Finland, but I thought it was Russia for a long time because these people live the grimmest of lives. I don't know if there was more than one smile in the whole movie, but they all accept their poverty without complaint. It sounds heavy and depressing, but it's much lighter than it sounds. It's actually pretty fun. --Bill Alward, May 16, 2004