Unknown White Male

Unknown White Male

By Oggy Bleacher

Unknown White Male

Doug Bruce is 35 years old, but he was basically born in 2003, the year he lost his memory. The premise for this documentary appears stolen from The Bourne Supremacy (2002), in which a spy played by Matt Damon loses his memory, or the short-lived John Doe series (2002-2003) in which Dominic Purcell plays a crime-solving genius who doesn’t know his own identity. But Doug Bruce is a real person who emerged on a subway near Coney Island, NY with no memory of who he was or how he got there. Imagine speaking with an English accent and having someone tell you, “Well, you are probably from the U.K. Or maybe Australia.” Imagine speaking fluent French with no memory of learning French. When Doug was asked to sign his name he did so automatically and was amazed to see his name started with the letter “D.” Thus “Unknown White Male” became Doug’s identification for the first few days of his new life. What he ultimately becomes is the subject of Dir. Rupert Murray’s artistic documentary on the first two years of Doug’s life.

Doug turns out to be neither an international spy nor a genius, but that makes his story even more accessible to the average viewer. Physically, Doug was fine, but he had lost what most of us take for granted: Society. How Doug reacts to losing all emotional connection his friends and family is interesting and sobering. Though meeting old friends is difficult for Doug, it is at least as hard for the friends who witness merely a blank stare where there was once a familiar personality, a dear friend.

Using hand-held footage from Doug’s own video camera as well as steady-cam footage and head shot interviews, Murray assembles an interesting documentary-cum reenactment of Doug’s struggles to find a place in a strange world. Over-produced at times, the film includes far more smash edits and visual effect than one would find in, say, a Michael Moore documentary. Some of the reenactment sequences are heavy-handed and unnecessary, as though Murray is shouting, “I want the audience to feel like they have amnesia.” Well, a documentary need not be an amusement park ride. Still, the overall narrative outline is coherent and effective. Like all good documentaries, Unknown White Male gives the audience a peek into a world we would otherwise miss.

Grade: B

L.A. and N.Y Opening on Feb 17

Director: Rupert Murray

MPAA Rating: PG

Runtime: 87 minutes

Release Company: Wellspring