Exploring the strange predicament of Douglas Bruce, who loses all memory of his previous life, Rupert Murray’s documentary shows that if on top of being an unknown white male you are a rich, young, good-looking one who lives in New York, losing your identity is not really a problem: you can buy a new one. Bruce rediscovers the world through restaurants and travel, between awkward meetings with relatives and former chums. When one of the latter remarks, “I feel 20 years older than him now,” the film hints that Bruce’s amnesia has freed him not only from the past but also from the ravages of time. A photography teacher calls Bruce’s pre-amnesia work “ideologically problematic” — something that must also be said of Murray’s film. But Unknown White Male is an interesting document of how privilege can turn disorientation and disconnection into euphoria.
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Reviews
, Douglas Bruce, Rupert Murray
