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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Friday Film Review- Elefante Blanco (2012)

Even as I write this I feel guilty for not enjoying Elefante Blanco more than I did. This Argentinian film centres on the slums of Buenos Aires where two priests, Father Julián (Ricardo Darín) and Father Nicolás (Jérémie Renier) are attempting to navigate the drug wars and poverty of the worst neighbourhood in the city. The title of the film comes from the name of the crumbling building that was supposed to be a hospital but remains an unfinished home to the homeless, an ever present feature of the film. The problem with Elefante Blanco is not that there aren't interesting characters or plots, the problem is that they all churn along while the audience is left wondering what the significance of each really is. A film like this has a lot to say, but Elefante Blanco doesn't seem to say anything. Nicolás starts a tabooed relationship with a social worker (Martina Gusman), for example, but while we feel that it must indeed be taboo, the film does nothing to dramatize or highlight this, leaving the viewers with the sensation that their romance is unneeded filler in an already heavy handed film. And the sex scene could have been plucked from virtually any other movie. Both Julián and Nicolás care deeply for the people of this neighbourhood but they take different approaches. Nicolás wants to get involved, perhaps because he still feels the trauma of a massacre he witnessed in the Amazonian jungles in one of the opening scenes of the film. Meanwhile, Julián takes a more peaceful approach, and certainly there are many comparisons drawn between him and the Marxist activist and priest Father Carlos Mujica who was shot in 1974 and who is also a mainstay of the film. Both priests have their faith tested by the violence and helplessness of their environment, but again the depiction of these trials doesn't seem to do justice to what the characters must certainly be feeling. Add in a brain tumor for Father Julián and you have a film full of plot lines that are loaded with potential, potential that doesn't go anywhere significant. There is no doubt that this is a beautifully shot and scored film filled with great performances. Director Pablo Trapero is evidently passionate for his characters, the church and Buenos Aires and as such this is a film certainly worth seeing. It is however, one that leaves one with more questions than answers.

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