Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28686 in DVD
• Released on: 2003-10-07
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: Finnish
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 97 minutes

Amazon.com
The spare and quirky comedy of Finnish auteur Aki Kaurismaki is in delightful form in The Man Without a Past. A man (Markku Peltola) awakens after a brutal mugging with no memory; he wanders into the outskirts of Helsinki with his face wrapped like an escapee from a classic horror film. A destitute family helps nurse him back to health and a Salvation Army worker named Irma (Kati Outinen) helps him get a job. Though bureaucrats and policemen who can't seem to cope with this amnesiac's lack of established identity, the amnesiac plants potatoes, manages a rock & roll band, and romances Irma as he builds a new self. Kaurismaki weaves his movies out of small details and careful, cautious steps forward--but by the end, The Man Without a Past has become a rich, engrossing, and very funny portrait of the possibilities of life. --Bret Fetzer

From The New Yorker
A huge Finn (Markku Peltola), unnamed and undemonstrative, is beaten up and left for dead. Knowing almost nothing of his former life, he begins a new one-living in a converted storage container on the Helsinki waterfront, befriending a dog, and cooking regrettable meals for a quiet blonde (Kati Outinen) from the Salvation Army. The director is Aki KaurismŠki, and even by his rigorous standards this is laconic fare-long, peaceful silences broken by tentative conversation and the steady puff of cigarettes. The result is oddly affecting: you come to feel not just sympathy for the hero, with his bandaged brow and utter want of self-pity, but even a mild envy for his uncluttered existence. In Finnish. -Anthony Lane
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Life Offers Much If You Want to Live (4.5 stars)
"A Man without a Past", a 2002 masterpiece of Finnish director Aki Kaurismaki, may well be his best film to date. It relates the story of a welder (Markku Peltola), who is one night coming home from work and while resting on a bench he is assaulted by a group of muggers and beaten almost to death. Yet he regains consciousness, but only to find he does not remember who he is, what's his name -- anything.

Subsequently, the man is taken care of by a community of very-close-to-homeless people, who, nevertheless, lend a helping hand, together with a local Salvation Army group. The man even starts a relationship with a shy, devout Army member Irma (Kati Outinen).

"A Man without a Past" is a film about humanity, about what makes us human, about that we all are different but everyone of us can be an asset to those around us -- and it needn't necessarily be a money aid. The people in this movie help and get the help back. Kaurismaki's directing is up to par with another European great, Almodovar, in that he understands his characters and tolerates their minor mistakes.

The film has many great moments, brilliant dialogues and even a melodramatic ending. Actors' performances are very natural and although the every single character has his/her very own way of viewing the world, the story is ultimately quite believable. After all, life itself writes most unbelievable stories.

Deservedly winning several awards at 2002 Cannes festival, "A Man without a Past" scored the first ever Foreign Film Oscar nomination for Finland. I was writing this review five days before the Oscar ceremony and I saw none of its four contenders, but I felt this Finnish film was a favourite and destined to become a classic.

If you're looking for a film to watch for entertainment and great cinema at once, this may be it. And you will get a large dose of warmth to your heart as a bonus.

A Finnish delight!
THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST is a wonderful, lonely, and quiet film about M, a man who has suffered amnesia after being beaten and robbed while sleeping on a public park bench in the Finnish capital of Helsinki. He does not remember his name, or know anything about his past. But instead of going on a crusade to discover his true identity, he simply goes with the flow of life. After being pronounced dead at the hospital he wakes up in a deserted industrial area near the sea and is befriended by its local inhabitants. But M soon finds that his attempts to re-enter society is strongly hindered by the fact that he doesn't remember his name. Instead of being defeated M continues to go about living his life. He eventually rents an abandoned container car and plants a small vegetable garden outside his front door. M develops a new life while leaving the old one behind.

During this film there is a lack of any type of facial expressions or emotions of the characters, even when they are speaking to each other. The dialogue is slow and serious and there is not much action involved. This is what makes THE MAN WITHOUT A PAST a truly unique film. Not many people would appreciate this film with the underlying humor and silences. There is little doubt that this is the best foreign film I've seen for some time. My only complaint about this DVD is the lack of special features. I would really enjoy listening to a director or actor commentary of this film. Regardless, this is an excellent film.

Quiet, Quirky and a Little Sly
This Finnish film may not be for everyone. Though nominated in 2002 for an Oscar for best foreign film, I don't think it got much play here. It's a quiet movie about a guy who is beaten in a park in Helsinki right after getting off a train. The hospital thinks he's dead, but he staggers out, gradually recovers, and can't remember a thing. He meets a number of people, most of whom help him in some way or another. He meets a Salvation Army woman and a relationship developes.

It's hard to describe this movie. The dialoque is often funny, but delivered absolutely deadpan. There is no excitement, but a rich development of story and relationships through incidents that happen to the lead character or that he causes to happen. The two leads, Markku Peltoa and Kati Outinen, are adults and look it. There's no Hollywood handsomeness about either of them. The structure of the movie is a gem of economy. One scene ends and the film moves briskly on to the next scene. No extended, unnecessary character development. No superfluous dialoque. It may sound pompous, but this movie creates at the end a nice feeling of mature contentment.

The DVD of the film is crisp and strong; an excellent transfer. There are no significant extras.