Unknown White Male (2005)

Director:

Rupert Murray

Genre:

Documentary | Biography

Tagline:

If you lost your past, would you want it back?

Plot:

The true story of Doug Bruce who woke up on Coney Island with total amnesia. This documentary follows him as he rediscovers himself and the world around him.

Plot Keywords:

Amnesia | Giving A Toast | Based On True Story

Awards:

3 nominations

Cast

Doug Bruce	...	Himself
Rupert Murray	...	Narrator (voice)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for drug references and brief strong language.

Runtime:

USA:88 min

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Ireland:PG | UK:12 | USA:PG-13

Company:

Court TV

Quotes:

[first lines]
Narrator: How much of our past lives, the thousands of moments we experience, helps to make us who we are? If you took all of these remembrances, these memories, away, what would be left? How much is our personality, our identity, determined by the experiences we have, and how much is already there - pure "us"?

Movie Connections:

References It Came from Outer Space (1953)

Soundtrack:

It's Cruel

Fascinating Movie - Thumbs Up

One of the most interesting movies I've seen in ages. Not the usual over-dramatized Hollywood fare, this film moves like nature with a pace that is not contrived.

I am a psychologist and from that perspective I found it to be truly amazing. The story is of a young man who loses his episodic memory. These cases are rare, and what this means is that he loses the meaning of things as learned through experience. In fact, our perspectives on the world are self-constructed as we grow and experience the world. In this case the main character has lost that kind of memory and therefore people, places and things lack any kind of meaning - it's the most complete kind of loss I can imagine.

At first he is terrified, as one would be, but as he reconstructs his life, you find yourself a little envious of his appreciation of the most ordinary things, something that is available to us only when we can deconstruct the meaning we have created for something. There is an innocence and wonder that is not ignorant or naive, rather it is pure and without baggage.

It would be scary to have this experience, but a great opportunity as well.