'The Imposter' is a docudrama about a french con artist, Frederic Bourdin, who impersonated Nicholas Barclay a missing child from San Antonio. Nicholas went missing at 13 in 1994, Frederic was taken into custody in Spain in 1997 and claimed to be the missing 16 year old boy. He was 23 at the time. The film is a collection of interviews, archive footage, and reenactments. Frederic comes off charming in a vaguely sinister or uncomfortable way. He's articulate, smart, but seemingly has no problem with having done the things he describes. He sees no harm in impersonating a missing child and causing a family undue emotional upset
The film starts with Frederic's detainment in Spain and follows the story as him and the family describe their feelings as events unfolded. The family seems almost too naive, too accepting of a person who looks nothing like their missing family member. But whose to say what a family having gone through that kind of trauma would be willing to accept. As the film progresses you almost shift your focus from Frederic's crimes to suspecting the family of being involved in Nicholas' disappearance. But it might just be Frederic Bourdin still manipulating after all these years. Manipulating his interviewer. Manipulating you.
See It.
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