The Man Without a Past

Aki Kaurismäki is probably the most famous (and arguably the best) Finnish director. The Man Without a Past (2002) is probably his most popular film, partly due to the Oscar nomination for Best Foreign Language Film. A Finnish man (Markku Peltola) is violently mugged and when he's taken to the hospital, he's considered dead. Yet he wakes up and escapes the hospital with no idea who he is. He then proceeds to live with the poor people in Helsinki. The story certainly has the elements of strict social criticism. It goes to absurd extremes of poverty in Finland: people live in containers (which hilariously enough have their own landlord). The film also seems to take aim at bureoucracy, without a proper ID you can't get anything. Yet the film never becomes too preaching because it doesnt try to be too judgmental. Everything is handled with the deadpan humor - Kaurismäki is the master of that. He is known for his peculiar way to direct actors: acting is completely "wooden" and stiff. I guess he tries to reflect Finnish behaviour by that, although it is - of course - exaggerated. His camera rarely moves although his form seems to be quite clean and precise otherwise - especially the lighting is wonderful. That way the wooden acting becomes more distracting and obvious; maybe that's the point, but I find it a little weird to only put acting on a leash instead of the whole form. In overall, it is a fine film, but not necessarily brilliant in any aspect.

Score: 8 out of 10