The movie: Unknown White Male The director: Rupert Murray The star: Doug Bruce
The story at the center of Rupert Murray’s engaging, albeit uneven documentary is so incredible that even the most gullible of viewers is apt to question its veracity: In early July of 2003, Doug Bruce, a jet-setting, 30-something Brit living in New York’s East Village found himself wandering around Coney Island having suffered total memory loss. After the terrifying ordeal of trying to find someone who could identify him (he carried no identification; an ex-girlfriend eventually comes to the rescue), Bruce underwent a battery of tests, yet doctors could find no medical reason for his rare condition, known as retrograde amnesia.
Filmmaker Murray, who’d known Bruce for years, saw an opportunity in his friend’s misfortune and obtained permission to document Bruce’s efforts to reconstruct his life. It’s fascinating to watch a grown man’s rebirth, but Murray and cinematographer Orlando Stuart sully the experience somewhat with too many stylistic indulgences. By film’s end, you’ll wish the fish-eye lens had never been invented. Intrusive cinematic devices aside, “Unknown White Male” raises a host of intriguing existential questions, It’s definitely worth seeing, and maybe even believing.
