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Who am I? Movie Amnesia

The incidence of amnesia amongst movie characters is far greater than that of the 'real-life' population, but then that goes for murders and crazy scrapes too. If movies are about telling stories - and let’s hope they are - then getting amnesia is a pretty darn good story. Film Amnesia represents a loss of self; complete collapse of the ego. The character is a naive and vulnerable newborn, learning right from wrong all over again, either for comic ('Finding Nemo') or tragic ('Memento') effect. Consequently some of cinema's most interesting, funny, intriguing, exciting and enchanting stories have started with the proverbial bump on the head. 'Memento', 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'A Very Long Engagement' and the brutal, 'The Machinist' spring to recent mind; but what about, 'Paris, Texas', 'Angel Heart', Hitchcock's 'Spellbound', 'The English Patient', 'Robocop' even the 1987 Kurt and Goldie comedy classic, 'Overboard'. Scroll down and check out some of these unforgettable titles… Pictured: Ronald Colman tries hard to remember Greer Garson in 'Random Harvest'

The Great Dictator (1940)

8.5/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Jack Oakie, Paulette Goddard

Chaplin's first talkie stands as one of his greatest achievements. In this touching and often hilarious political spoof on the Third Reich, Chaplin pl... Read more

The Gold Rush (1925)

8.2/10
Director: Charlie Chaplin
Starring: Charlie Chaplin, Mack Swain, Tom Murray

Considered by many to be Chaplin's finest comedy: Charlie is the gold prospector in the Yukon near starvation and treacherous villains. Many great sce... Read more

The Manchurian Candidate (1962)

8/10
Director: John Frankenheimer
Starring: Angela Lansbury, Frank Sinatra, Henry Silva, Janet Leigh, Laurence Harvey

One of the finest political thrillers ever made. John Frankenheimer's blend of Cold War paranoia and sly satire stars Laurence Harvey as a former Kore... Read more

Mulholland Drive (2001)

8/10
Director: David Lynch
Starring: Justin Theroux, Naomi Watts, Ann Miller, Laura Harring, Robert Forster, Dan Heda...

David Lynch pulls out all the stops, upends all expectations, and, well, goes all Lynchian in this maniacal, mind-bending mix of Hollywood satire, fil... Read more

A Very Long Engagement (2004)

7.7/10
Director: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
Starring: Audrey Tautou, Gaspard Ulliel, Jean-Pierre Becker, Dominique Bettenfeld, Clovis...

In 1919, Mathilde (Audrey Tautou) was 19 years old. Two years earlier, her fiance Manech (Gaspard Ulliel) left for the front at the Somme. Like millio... Read more

Men In Black (1997)

7.3/10
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Starring: Will Smith, Tommy Lee Jones, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio, Rip Torn, Tony...

Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith are the nattily-dressed government agents whose top secret job is to track down any extraterrestrials landing on Earth... Read more

Angel Heart (1987)

7.3/10
Director: Alan Parker
Starring: Mickey Rourke, Robert De Niro, Lisa Bonet, Charlotte Rampling

Mickey Rourke is thrown into a head-bending world of violence and voodoo that moves from the streets of New York to the swamps of Louisiana. Lisa Bone... Read more

The Bothersome Man (2006)

7.4/10
Director: Jens Lien
Starring: Trond Fausa Aurvaag, Petronella Barker, Per Schaaning, Birgitte Larsen, Johannes...

40-year-old Andreas has arrived in a strange city with absolutely no idea how he got there. He has a job, a flat, a beautiful girlfriend, but somehow,... Read more

Resident Evil (2002)

6.7/10
Director: Paul W S Anderson
Starring: Milla Jovovich, Michelle Rodriguez, Eric Mabius

Inspired by the top selling video game, this horror epic is set in Raccoon City, an industrial complex where a deadly virus has been unleashed, killin... Read more

Shutter Island (2010)

8.1/10
Director: Martin Scorsese
Starring: Ben Kingsley, Elias Koteas, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mark Ruffalo, Max von Sydow, Mich...

In 1954, US Marshall Teddy Daniels (Leonardo DiCaprio in superb form) has come to Shutter Island, home of Ashecliffe Hospital for the Criminally Insan... Read more