Doug Bruce

For other people named Douglas Bruce, see Douglas Bruce (disambiguation).

Doug Bruce (born 1967) is the subject of Rupert Murray's 2005 documentary film Unknown White Male.

Bruce claims to suffer from an extremely rare, and possibly purely psychological, form of retrograde amnesia. It is alleged that this has left his episodic memory blank for his entire life prior to the onset of the amnesia. According to Bruce, he first became aware of his post-amnesia self when he 'awakened' on a New York subway train, with no recollection of who he was, including his name, his life experiences, family, friends, home, and work. In the film he claims he contacted the police and was admitted to a hospital psychiatric ward, where, with no name to use, 'Unknown White Male' was written on his hospital medical charts and records.

After a few days, Bruce alleges to have been connected with a friend whose mother's phone number was found inside a book in his possession. Little else was found on him other than some dog medicine; he had no wallet, bank cards, or other identifying documents at all. He claims that the friend identified him as 'Doug Bruce', a prosperous Frenchman who had formerly been a successful banker in Paris, and was now studying for a degree in photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He now works occasionally as a photographer, failing to find much success.^{[citation needed]}

Due of the extreme rarity of Bruce's form of amnesia, the length of it (Bruce has not regained his amnesia and therefore is a medical anomaly), as well as myriad inconsistencies in his story, there have been claims that the film is a hoax. The filmmakers and subject deny this. Various publications discussed the improbability of Bruce's story, which centers around being the only documented example of extended, full-blown amnesia in the world to date. Others concentrate on dissecting incongruent statements Bruce made regarding his alleged trauma.^[1][2] Bruce reveals in an interview that, before his own bout with amnesia, a close friend suffered from short-term amnesia after a sporting accident; this experience inspired the friend to change his life completely and move to Bali to become "a healer".^[3] It has been speculated that this friend's experience with amnesia inspired Bruce's malingering.

According to filmmaker Rupert Murray, his documentary Unknown White Male is a uniquely filmed exploration into the phenomenon of amnesia from the perspective of an alleged amnesiac, and it includes video film footage which Bruce filmed himself beginning within a week of the start of his amnesia.

External links

• Doug Bruce at the Internet Movie Database
• Is it a hoax?
• A Trip Down Memory Lane (Washington Post)
• New Man (The New Yorker)

Notes

1. ^ Rapkin, Mickey. The Man Who Might Not Be There. GQ, 2006
2. ^ Segal, David. A Trip Down Memory Lane. Washington Post, 2006
3. ^ Segal, David. A Trip Down Memory Lane. Washington Post, 2006

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Name	Bruce, Doug
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Date of birth	1967
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