My top documentaries #9 : The Imposter 2012

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So a teenage kid, Nicholas Barclay, goes missing in San Antonio Texas in 2003, presumed murdered but a body never found. The mother is an alcoholic and the kid’s older brother a junkie, and the number one suspect. The cops search, the family grieves and everyone gives up in the end. Three years later the phone rings in San Antonio. It’s the Spanish cops claiming to have her son in Madrid, or someone who claims to be. The family go along with it and the kid is sent to America to be with his family. Problem is their son had blue eyes and blonde hair where as this kid is French with brown eyes. But mom is having none of the doubts and takes the kid into her house as her own. Mom is convinced it’s him, or so she says. It becomes clear the kid is probably not who he says but builds the subterfuge to avoid being sent back to Spain, claiming he was sex trafficked and they ‘changed his eye color’. His real name is Fredrick Bourdin, a known criminal from France. But still the family want to believe as these revelations unfold. At this point he becomes involved in the documentary, to camera, and explains why he did the subterfuge, the family now less willing to be involved as the story gains national interest. But this is just the beginning of the extraordinary story as it twists and turns and, perhaps, reveals both parties ulterior motives for the deception. It’s a while ago when I watched this movie but the fact it stayed with me means it’s very good. It’s all about that need people have for attention and so meaning. Something terrible may define them and media attention maybe the cure, especially in money obsessed America. Bourdin is the most intriguing of all, a complex 23-year-old guy. It really is a bizarre watch.