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| View Larger Image | Unknown White Male: A True Story | DVDStarring: Doug Bruce, Rupert Murray
Directed By: Rupert Murray
Also With: Rupert Murray (Editor), Lance Bangs (Cinematographer), Orlando Stuart (Cinematographer), Beadie Finzi (Producer), Jess Search (Producer), Marie Therese Guirgis (Producer), Robyn Hutt (Producer), Ryan Werner (Producer), Steve Aaron Misiura (Producer), Vanessa Arteaga (Producer)
| List Price: | $19.95 | | Price: | $17.99 | | You Save: | $1.96 (10%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | DVD | | Rating: |  | | Run Time: | 88 minutes | | Format: | Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC | | Studio: | Wellspring Media | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Aspect Ratio: | 1.33:1 | | Release Date: | September 05, 2006 | | Sales Rank: | 59,221th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
Studio: Genius Products Inc Release Date: 06/19/2007 Run time: 88 minutes Rating: Pg13 |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 3.0 based on 18 reviews)
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watchable, probably fake (imho) by Bookbug (Wyoming)  3 Stars
June 21, 2008
This is an interesting doc. I think the controversy over whether or not it's "real" (=whether or not Doug really has amnesia) makes it a lot more interesting.
On the one side, the filmmaker reports that Doug's family & friends are all convinced he's lost his memory. On the other side ... how is it that his language is unimpaired, and he knows enough to leave the subway and turn himself in to the police--and yet he doesn't recognize the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace, doesn't recognize the term West Indian Cricket ("Is that a drink or an insect?"), even though he was a huge fan and played cricket himself in school, and doesn't recognize the music of the Rolling Stones.
And that's just addressing things that show up in the movie--see the article in the Washington Post for more problematic info.
Put me down as an American skeptic, but watch the doc and decide for yourself.
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Not As Good As Blair Witch by Ramon Olivo (New York, Ny)  1 Stars
May 09, 2008
Did this guy actually suffer amnesia? ...Maybe, I don't know, only he and Rupert and anyone behind this documentary knows. However, you can't help but question what is true throughout the film because everything in it falls into place perfectly as if it were scripted in pre-production. How convenient that he leaves his apartment and forgets his wallet but remembers to carry a backpack that contains several clues to who he is including a phone number. Why convenient? Because if he had his wallet then the beginning of the film, talking to the police and being committed to a mental hospital, would have gone out the window.
But let's give him the benefit of the doubt, suppose this is all true, then let's consider the entertainment value of the film. It's ultimately boring. Why? Because he suffers no real obstacles, conflicts, anything to show him struggle and suffer and fall in his quest so we can cheer him on when he gets up to conquer all that opposes him. Okay, this is not The Lord of the Rings, but nothing really happens and that's because he has a cushion to fall back on.
Anyone else would have roamed the streets for days petrified, taken advantage of by preying opportunists and thugs, ended up sleeping under the Coney Island boardwalk before being eventually arrested by the police for acting suspicious and possibly sent to a homeless shelter and so on. He would have been fired from his job and evicted by the time someone would have found him thanks to the missing posters or at least by the police checking to see who the hell he was. Then he would have had to rebuild everything that has crumbled underneath from his past. But that's not the film you'll see, instead Doug is rich, lives in a loft and takes photography classes just because...well, because he has an interest in it since he retired in his thirties as a successful stockbroker. He doesn't need to worry about the rent, health insurance or a job because he's rich. How convenient.
To make for the fact that nothing really happens, even when he meets family and friends, we are thrust into a bad drug induced trip through the barrage of meaningless images to fill up the time. Rupert, who is well equipped to document everything, narrates over the images but doesn't really include any insightful information.
So what are we left with? It could have been a decent faux short documentary but instead we have a film that drags on forever because we never really see Doug struggle and in the end really achieve anything at all. Because of this I breathed a sigh of relief when the credits came up and I ran.
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Starting over... by R. Gawlitta (Milwaukee, Wisconsin USA)  4 Stars
May 04, 2008
I've read other reviews, and most think it's a hoax. So what? Wouldn't we all like to start over? The fact that he went all over the world to reconnect, with friends and family, makes me wonder that, if he was faking, why would he bother? Certain things were innate in his character, such as speaking English and a love of photography, which were somewhat re-taught to him. If he wasn't such an incredibly handsome man, I wonder if anyone would really care.DVD extras are great, especially his former friends telling what a rake Doug really was before the ordeal. This was a darling at the Sundance film festival, but was never up for any awards that I'm aware of. My biggest problem was that when dialogue wasn't happening, the music got really loud, unnecessarily. The sound recording is lousy, but this indie, small-budget film can be forgiven for this oversight. This film is interesting, and director Rupert Murray has presented a film of interest, substance and a bit of controversy. I'd love to start my life all over, with lots of money. Who wouldn't? But I'd never forget my loving family. Doug had all that. That's why I don't think it's a fake... unless he's a real [...]...
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The Man Who Wasn't There? by Aaron (Sydney, Australia) 1 Stars
February 04, 2008
Are we still caught up in the faux-profound of this ridiculous charade? A documentary maker that refuses to get his subject to take the REAL test that objectively, once and for all, clears up whether this clearly implausible - yet clever, admittedly - LIE, all because he thinks it would be.... I loved this... "rude"?!?!? I mean, really. And the revealing of later video (not in the actual documentary) where Bruce chokes up over the first time he sees rain, even though he has already told of how it was raining, the night he took himself to the police station??!! Or how about the later revealed coincidence to end all coincidences, where it turns out Doug's friend, only a year before, had a REAL case (of only one week) of amnesia, after a soccer accident?!?!? This guy ended up hob-knobbing with lost celebrities who found something "spiritual" about Doug's story, and his pal had a hit doco. I find the whole thing hysterical, however, and so I do recommend seeing the film - even though it does make me feel... well... kinda sick, to be putting money in their pockets. The irony being that beyond the concept, it's actually a really hollow, mediocre affair. But sometimes the truth is stranger than the fiction. Except for Doug Bruce, I suppose, whose fiction is pretty damned extravagant.
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True or not...(3 1/2 stars) by Diane Moore 3 Stars
July 11, 2007
I found it to be an intriguing story.
Imagine that you wake up one day, not only have you lost your memory of your past, but you also need to be introduced to everything again. You have no issues, no problems weighing you down, your personality is totally changed. How would that feel?
Doug Bruce seemed to be a changed man. Before his memory loss, he was a stockbroker turned photographer, but seemed arrogant and spoiled. The arrogance hadn't completely disappeared after the memory loss, especially the way he talked about his "old" friends, but he seemed more at peace.
It was difficult watching his family adapt to the "new" Doug, especially his younger sister and his dad.
I gave it less stars because even though I was glued to the screen later, it took a while to get into it, and it had a slow beginning.
I would be disappointed if it were a fake. If it were, then maybe they should have produced this film as fiction. Plus, you would probably get more of an audience that way. I don't know what someone would be trying to prove by making a documentary as a fake. I'm hoping that it's not though. It was an attention-grabbing subject and I felt empathy for those that were involved.
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