"The Man Without A Past"
(Finland 2002, 97 minutes in colour)
Original Title: "Mies vailla menneisyytä", Regisseur Aki Kaurismäki
After being mugged, a man loses not only all of his papers but also his memory. As a nameless person, he starts a new life, and along the way he meets a woman officer from The Salvation Army.
Soon it is no longer just the soup and clothes which interests him at the Salvation Army.
Markku Peltola as nameless
A tentative relationship blossoms between him and Irma, the young Salvation Army Officer. After the relationship has developed, the man's picture is published with a newspaper article giving details about his identity and his previous situation. The man's former life is revealed.
The film by Aki Kaurismäki received two awards at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival. The movie clearly contrasts the brutality of the man's mugging and his life on the hard edge of society, against the social care and human kindness' offered him, as well as his new-found love.
Kati Outinen as Salvation Army Officer Irma