Cast: Markku Peltola, Kati Outinen, Juhani Niemelä, Kaija Pakarinen, Sakari Kuosmanen
Director: Aki Kaurismaki
Producer: Aki Kaurismaki
Screenplay: Aki Kaurismaki
Cinematography: Timo Salminen
U.S. Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
In Finnish with subtitles
Aki Kaurismaki is Finland's pre-eminent filmmaker, yet, despite that distinction, he is not well-known in the United States. Many of his films have not been given North American distribution, and, even his best-known works (Leningrad Cowboys Go America and The Match Factory Girl) have achieved only minor success on the art house circuit. Despite a Best Foreign Language Film Oscar nomination and various citations at international film festivals (including the 2002 Cannes Grand Jury Prize), The Man Without a Past is not likely to change Kaurismaki's reputation or significantly expand his audience. However, those who make the effort to seek out this film will be rewarded by a surprisingly quirky and touching romantic comedy.
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.
The Man Without a Past is a simple, gently told story that relies primarily upon mood. There is a plot, but the film is not plot-centric. And, despite the thriller trappings, the material is more appropriate to a comedy than another genre. Often, Karuismaki has his tongue planted firmly in his cheek, as in one scene where the man's fast-talking lawyer makes a fool out of a police officer, or as in another when the man calmly explains why he doesn't feel like getting involved in a fist fight. There's also a running joke about how it's impossible for the man to get work because he doesn't know his name (no one believes his story about having amnesia). The film is peppered with slyly comedic moments, few of which are uproarious, but many of which are droll.
The acting in Kaurismaki's films can be an acquired taste. The director demands low key, subdued performances. The result is minimal body language, vocal styles that are close to a monotone, and a limited range of facial expressions. At times, the actors almost seem to sleepwalk through their roles. In a movie about amnesia, however, this works. The muted approach is effective when applied to a man who has lost all sense of his past and a woman who has kept herself emotionally distant from everyone around her. (Despite being well into middle age, she comments that the man is her "first love.") There's no real spark between the two principals, but that's by design. The director doesn't want obvious chemistry, because he considers it to be an artifact. Actress Kati Outinen was awarded the Best Actress Award at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. Although she gives a nicely controlled performance, this isn't great acting in the classic sense, and the victory is probably a reflection of the jury's desire to appear eclectic (read: pretentious) in handing out citations.
If there's a meaning to The Man Without a Past, it's about the value of fitting into a community. The man starts the film alone, broken, and bleeding. At the end, he is surrounded by the group of people who have become his friends and neighbors. He has learned to forget the past and move on – even when he remembers something. In its own strange way, The Man Without a Past is a modern fairy tale. It certainly is divorced from reality. Despite this – or perhaps because of it – it's a satisfying motion picture.
© 2003 James Berardinelli