`PAST' PRESENTS OFF-KILTER LIFE.(LIFE & LEISURE)

Byline: MATT WOLF Associated Press

``The Man Without A Past'' has such a violent, shocking start that some may be surprised at the quieter shock the film ultimately delivers: It emerges as an unforced fable of a uniquely stirring sort.

That's hardly what you would expect from the first 10 minutes or so of Finnish writer-director Aki Kaurismaki's film, which earlier this year was the first-ever Finnish nominee for the Oscar for best foreign-language film.

Newly arrived off the train to Helsinki, the protagonist known only as M (played by Markku Peltola) is set upon by thugs, robbed and left for dead, only to make it back to the railway station …