Fugue State

FUGUE STATE Description A fugue state, as defined by the Merck Manual, is “one or more episodes of amnesia in which the inability to recall some or all of one’s past and either the loss of one’s identity or the formation of a new identity occur with sudden, unexpected, purposeful travel away from home.” In “Fugue State,” the narrative feature, there occurs a sudden and widespread outbreak of insanity and violence among ordinary people, believed to be caused by an “Amnesia Plague” of unknown origin. While the most noticeable of the infected are those that resort to murder and cannibalism, there is in fact a great variety of symptoms experienced, including, but not limited to, inability to remember names and faces; inability to form new memories; inability to recall long term memory, coupled with a perceived ability to see the future; complete loss of speech and cognition; identity loss/confusion; and an apparent formation of a “gestalt mind.” As the movie progresses, it becomes clear that a virus or other form of communicable disease could not be the source of the observed phenomena, and that forces far more mysterious are at work. The narrative is seen through the eyes of Luis, a security guard in downtown Albuquerque, and one of the uninfected, as he attempts to cope with the outbreak of the “Amnesia Plague” and the social disorder that ensues, followed by his westward journey through the desert (on foot) to find his wife, Cassandra. Upon reuniting with her, he is heartbroken to find that she doesn’t have any memory of him, an apparent victim of the “Plague.” It is later revealed that she seems to have knowledge of future events, which she foresees the two of them sharing “until the end of time,” as she cryptically states. Much of the second act revolves around Luis’ efforts to protect Cassandra from antagonists, as well as to unearth her forgotten memories of their life together. In the final act, it is revealed that Luis has in fact been afflicted by his own unique “Fugue State.” Shot on a shoestring budget in 2005, “Fugue State” is a perfect example of the future of local independent cinema. Utilizing to the full all the resources of environmental beauty, indigenous talent (both before and behind the camera), and the latest tools of digital filmmaking, “Fugue State” is an intimate epic of both terror and transcendence. Using the tropes of the traditional zombie film in new ways, this movie attempts to create a mood of pervasive dread not so much through the threat of physical violence as through the much more unsettling psychological horror of identity loss and the unreliability of memory and even reality itself.