The Man Without The Past [2003] [DVD]

As a Finn myself, I'm ashamed to admit I was never a fan of the Kaurismäki brothers until I heard of this one scooping up the awards (or at least nominations, as in the case of the Oscars), and promptly got my hands on it. It is amazing! If this doesn't restore your belief in human nature and and the goodness of life, nothing will. One Finnish critic said it's a movie which "stays with you for many days", and it sure does, making you feel all warm every time you think back to it.

It's part of Kaurismäki's 'Finland trilogy'; the others being Drifting Clouds (Kauas Pilvet Karkaavat) and Lights in the Dusk (Laitakaupungin Valot). The films show you the Finnish society, warts and all, from the viewpoint of the less-fortunate but hard working, whose high moral integrity is being tested by the harshness of the mainstream society. Without any patriotic pathos or, for that matter, too much overt self-loathing, the image portrayed is of a world a bit rough around the edges but still worth the struggle to live in.

I found Kaurismäki's use of technology props to highlight the difference between the well-to-do mainstream middle classes and the movies' characters particularly interesting. Seeing how the characters live in disused freight containers, drive 50-year-old cars (if any), eat potato soup and 'borrow' electricity from the nearby pylons, you'd think the movie is set in the '40s. But every time the 'normal' people feature, there are scenes of modern medical equipment, brand new cars (large new Volvo estate as the taxi which the main character takes in the end), etc. In fact, you can work out a character's degree of wealth and 'mainstreamness' from the amount and sophistication of technology they have at their disposal. A valuable reminder of how even in today's internet and high tech society (and even in a country such as Finland which leads mobile comms etc. usage statistics) there remains a division between the have's and have-not's.

This is a sweet and charming film, funny and touching in equal measure. The hero is a big hulking Johnny Cash look-a-like, made vulnerable by his injury. Although the story is bizarre, it is entirely believable and you are completely drawn in and care about the characters. I had only seen Leningrad Cowboys Go America by this director, years ago on TV, and this is more polished, but equally funny - laugh out loud in places. Suffice to say that seeing this dvd made me want to see everything else the director has done. And it is the only dvd I've seen that includes the dog in the biography section of the extras.
The film picked up a stack of awards at Cannes, and with good reason.

THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST is a wonderful, lonely, and quiet film about M, a man who has suffered amnesia after being beaten and robbed while sleeping on a public park bench in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. He does not remember his name, or know anything about his past. But instead of going on a crusade to discover his true identity, he simply goes with the flow of life. After being pronounced dead at the hospital he wakes up in a deserted industrial area near the sea and is befriended by its local inhabitants. But M soon finds that his attempts to re-enter society is strongly hindered by the fact that he doesn’t remember his name. Instead of being defeated M continues to go about living his life. He eventually rents an abandoned container car and plants a small vegetable garden outside his front door. M develops a new life while leaving the old one behind.

During this film there is a lack of any type of facial expressions or emotions of the characters, even when they are speaking to each other. The dialogue is slow and serious and there is not much action involved. This is what makes THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST a truly unique film. Not many people would appreciate this film with the underlying humor and silences. There is little doubt that this is the best foreign film I’ve seen for some time. My only complaint about this DVD is the lack of special features. I would really enjoy listening to a director or actor commentary of this film. Regardless, this is an excellent film.