Review: The Imposter

The incredible true story of the disappearance in 1994 of 13 year-old Texan kid Nicholas Barclay, who supposedly disappeared. Three years later, Nicholas’ mother and sister receive word that Nicholas has been miraculously found…in Spain. They are shocked, Nicholas’ sister in particular (it is she who utters the hilariously ignorant line: ‘But that’s across country!’. Nicholas, however seems to have changed, and tells a wild story of kidnap and sexual abuse/torture. Why does he have different coloured eyes? Why does he now speak with a thick French accent? Well, that’s because he’s not Nicholas, but a con artist named Frederic Bourdin, who managed to fool the Spanish government, the FBI, and yes, Nicholas’ hick family. The fact that I’m telling you all of this (and the fact that the film itself is upfront about it by its very title!) shows, however, that there’s a lot more to this story. A whole lot more.

 

I already saw the fictionalised version of this story in “The Chameleon”, and this 2012 Bart Layton documentary indeed shows that yes, this really did happen and yes, this really is the most insane true story you’re ever likely to hear. It’s so unlikely that if you hadn’t heard that it were a true story, you wouldn’t believe it. You still might not believe it. It’s a good documentary (it’s really well shot, actually), but it’s a helluva story. If, like with “Sommersby” or “Changeling”, you roll your eyes at the basic premise of this having any believability at all, stick with it, because there’s a lot more than meets the eye here, lots of twists and turns, and at the end of the day, probably more questions than answers even after the film is over. About the only thing I was 100% sure of here was that the FBI and Spanish officials come out of this looking like complete fucking morons. No, it’s not just the bad dye job, it’s the accent. I mean, this guy’s not just speaking with an accent that he’s acquired over time (like when Aussie celebs move to the US for a while and come back sounding like a Yank), he genuinely speaks like someone for whom English is a second language. There’s a clear difference and it took them forever to notice it, it seems.

 

The thing that struck me most about this doco version of the story is just how many other missing kids Frédéric Bourdin could’ve ended up impersonating. It’s fascinating to ponder how things might’ve worked out had he instead tried to impersonate someone else. Did Bourdin really luck out here or what, given the kid he chose to impersonate had a gap in his teeth just like him? Even as the story takes twists and turns that seem to even surprise Bourdin, Bourdin still comes across as one helluva proficient con artist. Frank Abignale eat your heart out. The most interesting thing about the story to me is that you do get a bit of insight into why Bourdin did what he did and why he is the way he is given his own childhood. That is, if you can take anything he says for truth, which I don’t suppose you really can.

 

Aside from the fascinating story itself, it’s a genuinely well-made doco. The re-enactment footage has been shot in a rather cinematic manner, and we get some interesting cinematic storytelling tricks like inter-splicing cop show footage to represent the story this guy is telling. It’s cleverly done. I also think the story works best as a documentary, rather than fiction because it’s so incredible that being a documentary you are more likely to accept that this really did happen. I mean, when you hear his explanation for why he now has brown eyes when Nicholas Barclay had blue, the only reason why you accept it is because it’s a documentary and it really happened. You already know that this is the story of a con artist (and even then there are twists and turns that will surprise you) at the outset, so it’s easier to swallow because you already know going in that this really did happen and people really were fooled, perhaps by more than one person.

 

Just see it, it’s amazing. Trust me. A great true story that you won’t believe, but it really did happen.

 

Rating: B