Mies vailla menneisyyttä a.k.a. The Man Without A Past

To this day in my whole life, I have only known one Finnish; a sweet and intelligent girl who was always ready to give a big smile looking at you with her big blue eyes. That is all I have ever actually seen as an example to that nation, and the other identifications I have faced with are rather abstract to me. And yet, what many people say of the northern people about being reserved showing less emotions may be what is seen in this movie, however, there is much more to that acting.

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The Man Without A Past is Finnish director Aki Kaurismäki's 2002 film, which has received several awards and nominations, including Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival and a nomination for Academy Award as Best Foreign Language Film. It tells the story of a man who, at the beginning of the movie, is badly beaten in the street, resulting in amnesia, and how he manages to pull his life together as a man even without a name.

The man, whom I will call 'M' such as the final credits did, runs out of the hospital he is brought to, right after the doctor and the nurse is convinced that he is dead and call it. He is found unconscious lying by the river, by two children, whose family lives in a ship container, like many others residing in that area. He finds mercy, a rather casual one, and friendship among those people and starts to build his life all from scratch, with a side effect of difficulties related to amnesia. He gets clothes and a job from the Salvation Army, and starts a relationship with Irma, one of the workers there. A series of unexpected events lead to the unfolding of the mystery of his past finally; but deep inside, is the real him the man with that past or without any past?

Kaurismäki's masterpiece, The Man Without A Past, is a comedy, however, it is Kaurismäki's style of comedy, though not everyone's cup of tea, yet it has received grand applauses from all over the world, from people of many different cultures. It does not direct you to laugh or even smile at the certain funny situations, what Kaurismäki does is only to show the events, hence the audience then has to find the humour in that, if it suits. The same is true for any other emotions, for Kaurismäki's actors show no facial expressions, no emotions, nothing but dry conversation, for the audience to fill in the emotion department themselves. The reserved behaviours and dialogues between the characters may be a reference to those of Finnish nature, however, it certainly does go beyond that in the director's personal inner world.

The Man Without A Past is a movie that tears down all those emotions and reactions that we know of; it makes you want to cry for the most funny and laugh at the most tragic; and it creates its own language and emotional world from scratch, just as M does, for his life. Brilliant story telling, brilliant directing, brilliant acting, by especially Markku Peltola (M) and Kati Outinen (Irma).