Review #1,169: 'Unknown White Male' (2005)

What if you could wake up one morning and re-boot your brain, rid yourself of all the emotional baggage built up throughout the years and sever relationships with those who you perhaps feel are holding you back or influencing you in a negative way? If you could somehow throw away 30 years of your memory, would this change the person you are, and perhaps even shape you into a less cynical and all-round nicer person? This is the question pondered by first-time filmmaker Rupert Murray in his documentary Unknown White Male, a film that follows his good friend Doug Bruce following a sudden attack of amnesia which left him wandering the streets of New York without knowledge of who he is and where he was.

In 2003, Doug woke up on a subway train in Coney Island with only a backpack full of seemingly random objects and a scrawled telephone number to offer any clue to his identity. Stumbling into a police station, he rang the number and spoke to a lady who had no idea who he was. Moved onto a psychiatric hospital, it felt like Doug would never be allowed to leave until the daughter of the lady on the phone recognised him as an old boyfriend and quickly picked him up. Despite being able to remember certain facts such as the names of a few cities in Australia, everything was gone, and suddenly his friends and family became strangers. Murray joins him as he pieces the puzzle together, reuniting with his loved ones who accept the new Doug with open arms. When he was once 'cynical' with 'an edge', he now has a more optimistic, untainted view on life.

There's a lot riding on whether or not you actually believe the story being told, as although I would like to believe that it's true personally, there are some faintly questionable moments. Is it sheer luck that Doug was a photographer who decided to capture his first week with memory loss on film, or that one of his best friends was a budding documentary filmmaker? Perhaps. Regardless, Unknown White Male is a clumsily put-together and amateurish piece of work which places you in the company of a bunch of people who aren't particularly likeable. With the loose approach taken, it would have worked better as a short, but as a full-length feature, it would have been improved with more scientific background into the rare condition and expert analysis. There are moments that work well, such as Doug's amazement at the crowd gathering outside Buckingham Palace to witness the changing of the guard, but the sheer sloppiness of the film makes it a wasted opportunity to tell a fascinating story.


Directed by: Rupert Murray
Starring: Doug Bruce
Country: USA/UK

Rating: **

Tom Gillespie