Friday Review: The Imposter (2012)

The Imposter is a documentary that promises a lot and delivers a lot, just not as much as you would like.

This true story revolves around the question: how much would a grieving family be willing to believe? As a discussion of this question the film is fairly effective but it falls short in other areas. The film follows the Barclay family, who, in 1994, lost their son and brother Nicholas. He vanished one afternoon and was never found. Three years later a young French man was found in Spain claiming to be Nicholas.  It was, in fact, Frédéric Bourdin a twenty three year old who had made something of a career out of impersonating missing children. The documentary makes this clear from the very beginning, having Bourdin tell his side of the story. And what a story it is. He discusses how he manipulated law enforcement and social services, and how he was an unwanted child, implying a sort of motivation for his actions. Thankfully, director Bart Layton doesn't send a lot of time trying to garner sympathy for Bourdin, something which would have been forced and unwelcome. Rather, the film focuses on the suspension of belief required for this family to accept someone who was clearly not their son as their own. Bourdin seems shocked too. While it is understandable that a family, mourning their loss, would want to believe that this stranger was their son, and it is even  plausible that overworked child care workers in Spain would believe his story, it seems incredulous that various Embassy officials and even the FBI believed his story. Bourdin concocts a story about being kidnapped by the military and flown from country to country, used as a sex slave and forced to speak only in Spanish. A horrifying story but an incredulous one, not  least of all because Bourdin speaks with a marked French accent  which a native speaker would never acquire (as someone thankfully points out) and could not be mistaken for a Spanish one, if he indeed was forced to speak Spanish,  nevermind such claims as  his claim that acid was poured on his eyes to make them change colour.  This story is wholly implausible, yet nearly everyone bought it. The question then becomes why the family would accept it, do they have something to hide? A private detective believes that they themselves killed Nicholas and even Bourdin agrees, but no body is even found and to this day the case remains unsolved. Bourdin is shortly found out and sentenced to 6 years in jail before moving to France and,  after continuing his impersonation career, finally settles down.The documentary doesn't have a conclusion because there is no conclusion, at least that the filmmakers and audience are aware of, yet the film is set u so you believe there will be some final answers, something which makes the ending oddly dissatisfying. It is however, a well made film and worth watching, if not for the cinematography and production (which is pitch perfect) then for the questions it asks. 

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