This movie is a comedy but in a strange way. There is only one director who can make movies who balance in this way between a comedy and a tragedy. In fact this movie starts with a horrible fact: "M" (a phlegmatic Markku Peltola) is beaten into hospital and is considered lost by the doctor, or at least he will be paralysed for life. He manages to escape but has lost memory. In a brilliant way Kaurusmäki develops a story in which the protagonists all seem to help him but without any sympathy or feelings with the exception of a soldier of the Salvation Army, Irma (Kati Outunen). Very strange is the encounter with his wife (an embarrassed Aino Seppo) and the dialogue with her lover. This is Finnish surrealism at its best. Add to this the strange sounds of the melodic Finnish language and you feel as being living on another planet.
Review of The Man Without a Past
