hot doc

last night was my first doc soup experience, a monthly documentary series promoted by the good folks that put on the hot docs documentary film festival. the movie of the night was unknown white male which focusses on doug bruce, a man who suffers a sudden, inexplicable bout of retrograde amnesia. in essence, this 35-year old man wakes to find that he has no idea who or where he is. all memories of his family, friends and past experiences have vanished.

doug bruce faces the seemingly impossible task of recreating himself. rediscovering (or reinventing, more likely) who he is - his likes and dislikes, his personality, his goals, and most interestingly, his relationships with his friends and family.

this is a really fascinating film, and (in my opinion) had a lot of similar concepts to eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. it forces the viewer to consider what actually defines a person: the physical self or one's mind. to paraphrase a philosopher interviewed in the movie: he's definitely the same man that he was before, but whether he's the same person is unclear.

if you are into documentaries, i suggest you give this one a go when (if?) it comes to a theatre near you. or, more likely, a video store. in the meantime, visit the film's website to view the trailer.