Amnesia: The James Brighton Enigma

Canada 2005

Details  amazon

Seen 10 October 2008

Amnesia according to the www.freedictionary.com website is a partial or total loss of memory, usually resulting from shock, psychological disturbance, brain injury, or illness.

A man finds himself naked one morning in one of the streets of Montreal. That is the start of his search for his true self. Even though, eventually, he returns to his family, he still has some nightmares about some incidents in the past.

The nightmares are compounded by his correspondence with a researcher who is doing her thesis on impostors and the criminal mind. Some parts of his recollections seem at odds with reality, but there are some insights into the truthfulness.

Is the man escaping the truth, as in one of the flashbacks he is shown to have participated in the act of tormenting and abusing his lover. Did the guilt in that incident trigger the amnesia? The film is based loosely on a true story and until now we will never know what really happened.

An unsolved mystery where love played a major role, or is that hatred? Definitely, this a thought provoking exercise.