The Man Without a Past is a 2002 film from Finland directed by Aki Kaurismäki.
A man, named "M" in the credits although he's never addressed that way in the film, gets off a train in Helsinki. He stops to sit on a park bench, where he falls asleep—and is brutally attacked by three thugs. The muggers don't just rob him, they beat him to within an inch of his life. In fact, M actually does briefly flatline in the hospital, but then wakes up and staggers out of the hospital, before collapsing in an abandoned shipyard.
When he wakes up, M is suffering from complete amnesia. With no idea of who he is or where he should go, he makes a home out of an old shipping container. In fact, there's a whole community of poor people living in shipping containers in the yard. M makes friends in the homeless encampment, gets a girlfriend (a Salvation Army member named Irma), and struggles to find work while being unable to show ID or even tell people his name.
Tropes:
- Amnesiac Hero: M, the protagonist, who has to try and put his life together after waking up with no memory.
- Book Ends: In the opening scene the three muggers savagely beat M. In the last scene M is coming home when he encounters the three muggers again, while they're beating someone else. They advance on him threateningly...and then all the other residents of the community show up and attack the muggers.
- The Comically Serious: A lot of this, as characters react entirely seriously to absurd situations. In one scene, M has inspired the local Salvation Army band to start playing pop music instead of hymns. The Salvation Army officer gives a very serious speech to the homeless about how the pop song that the band is about to play will give insights into the life of Christ. As the band then launches into a dance tune, the officer's buddy looks over at him and says "I wonder if this was a wise thing to do."
- Diegetic Switch: M has found an abandoned jukebox. He's gotten it to work again, and he plays a song in his shipping container. The music continues to play as non-diegetic asthe scene cuts to an external shot of the homeless camp, later.
- Downer Beginning: A man gets off the train in Helsinki, stops to sit on a park bench for a while, and suffers a savage beating from a gang of muggers.
- Driven to Suicide: A man who stole his own money from the bank tells M why; he had a construction business but the bank repossessed his equipment and froze his account, so he couldn't pay his workers. Since he's now wanted for bank robbery the man gives M some cash envelopes and asks him to deliver the payments. Right after M leaves the man's office, a gunshot is heard offscreen.
- Dull Surprise: Neither M nor the bank clerk blink an eye when a guy wielding a shotgun comes in to rob the bank.
- Flatline: M flatlines in the hospital after he's brought in from the train station. The doctor and nurse pull the bedsheet over his face and walk away. Then he revives, gets up, and walks out of the hospital.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: M has the typical movie amnesia where he has complete memory loss but his functioning is not impaired in any way. He has even retained his skill as a welder.
- Off-into-the-Distance Ending: Having finally learned his name and where he's from, M goes home, only to find out that his wife just received a divorce decree. He goes back to the homeless community and finds Irma again. The film ends with them walking away arm-in-arm.
- One Phone Call: Having been arrested for failing to provide ID after the bank robbery, M says he's entitled to one phone call. The detective sneers that M has seen too many movies, but he lets M make his call.
- P.O.V. Cam: A shaky, swaying POV cam shows M staggering into the train station, after he was brutally beaten by the muggers.
- Sinister Switchblade: At the end M runs into the muggers in the park again. Their leader says "I thought we killed this one already," and flips open the knife on a switchblade. Then everybody else in the community shows up and comes after the muggers.
- Slice of Life: There's no dramatic arc, but a slice in the life of a man with Laser-Guided Amnesia, how he makes a home in a shipping container, how he courts a Salvation Army woman, how he struggles to get work when he's unable to provide ID.
- The Stoic: M is completely unflappable. After the bank robber locks M and the bank teller in the vault, M says it's OK, because the cops will respond to the alarm soon. The teller says "What alarm?" M matter-of-factly says "So we're going to die here, then," and lights up a smoke. (The teller manages to trigger a fire alarm.)
- Swiss Bank Account: Subverted. M, who can't get a regular bank account because he can't show ID or provide a social security number, attempts to open a Swiss bank account. He's interrupted by a bank robber.
- Useless Security Camera: The bank robber shoots the security camera with his shotgun, only for the teller to reveal that it's broken anyway.
