Unknown White Male

Unknown White Male is a stylish documentary, based on the real life story of a young man who wakes up on a subway car in New York City with no memory of who he is, but otherwise completely functional.

This sort of total amnesia is rare, but not unheard of, and is the basis for such stories as The Bourne Identity. Unknown White Male was the first time I had read of (or watched) a real life account, so I was mildly enthralled. If you've already read detailed accounts of real people who have experienced total amnesia, you might not find this film as novel as I did, unless you happen to like edgy, indy British films.

The film starts with a narrated reenactment of "Unknown White Male"'s first few hours after "waking up." It then begins cutting in interviews with experts on memory and witnesses to his first few days. Not surprisingly, in our interconnected society, it doesn't take long for someone to recognize him, which launches the film into its most interesting phase: interviews with his family and former friends.

In this second half, the film becomes more than merely an interesting account, and begins to delve into philosophical questions of identity and socialization, which I enjoyed thinking about.

Watching the film, I found it interesting to theorize about possible causes of his amnesia, and even whether he could have faked it; both are issues that the filmmaker doesn't touch. I will leave it to you to discover whether the unknown white male ever remembered his past life.

Simon goes to sleep in the sink, but is awakened by a phone call

Obi-Jeff (Halloween 2006)

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Obi-Jeff