The Imposter

True crime is great; TV, books, whatever. I can spend hours watching Unsolved Mysteries or looking up serial killers on wikipedia. The subject of what darkness is just behind the layer of society and morality is fascinating to me.This also ties into my love of mystery fiction, specifically the hardboiled stuff by Raymond Chandler and Edgar Allen Poe. I love stories of weird circumstances, dad ends, gumshoes, and dark secrets. Who knew you could have all that with a documentary? In mid-1994, thirteen-year-old Nicholas Barclay disappeared while walking home in San Antonio, Texas. His family did an extensive search, but nothing came up. Three years later, they get a call from a shelter in Spain claiming they have Nicholas. Nicholas' sister personally went to pick him up. The person she brought back claimed to have been kidnapped into a child prostitution ring. He also looked nothing like Nicholas, had different colored eyes, and spoke with a French accent. But the Barclay family took him in without question. Why would they? Were they that desperate? And what happens when the impostor becomes scared of those he's duping? For lack of a better term: holy cow is this movie engaging. I was literally on the edge of my seat for most of it, and I was talking and thinking about the film for days after seeing it. The documentary interviews everyone involved with the case, including Nicholas' family, an FBI agent, a private eye who noticed early discrepancies, and the impostor himself. We get the facts of the story packaged with speculation from two equally unreliable narrators, and the director handles it magnificently. I'm no Marlowe, but I have mild confidence in my observational skills, and for the first time I did real detective work. I won't say my conclusion, but let me say I was surprised. Most unique about The Imposter is how the story is told. The film is a completely new and original take on crime documentaries, and it's cool. As we listen to first hand accounts from the various taling heads, we watch high quality reenactments, news footage, and home movies that reveal intricacies that otherwise wouldn't have been included. The Imposter also makes use of voice filters, nonlinear narrative, and creepy music to tell a truly haunting and bizarre tale full of lies and unsolved suspicions. For me, watching this film was like reading a great whodunit novel. What killed me was the fact that it was all real. Not "based on a true story" real. Nobody's names were changed, no sides are taken. There's just the facts, set up in an incredibly fascinating way. It's definitely a film I'd see again with others who haven't seen it, if not just so I can reexamine the story. There's really nothing else for me to say except go see The Imposter because it's awesome.