Trust No One...Especially Family. "The Imposter"

 

Truth is stranger than fiction...   

The Story:

In 1993, a 13 year old boy from San Antonio disappeared.  4 years later, a phone call from the police in Spain claimed to have the boy in custody.  What they really had was a French conman who pretended to be juveniles, and he was about to pull the biggest con of his life and get a ticket to America in the process.  If only he could convince the grieving family that he was their long lost relative.

Of course in their grief and anxiousness to see their family reunited, sometimes you can overlook details like accent, hair color... eye color...

For me, this film pushes the boundaries of a true documentary.

Call me old-fashioned, but I feel like the best ones actually use the real people to tell the story.

You use actors for re-enactments.

So when you bring in actors to recreate the parts of individuals, it's cheapened somewhat from having the actual people interviewed for the story themselves.

Minor quibble, but there you have it.

That said, it is a crazy story about identity theft, and the stretch that a family was willing to put themselves through to fill the hole in their heart.

The implication of foul play by the family at the end is a wonderful twist that the story didn't need to already be captivating, but is a great cherry on top of a bizarre sundae!

 

The movie itself starts out slow, but it builds, as it tracks back on itself and pulls back more layers from the onion as the story is revealed.  It's crazy that he was able to pull this off.  Crazier still that it wasn't the first, or last time that it happened.

Final Grade: B

Would I Own It: Nope, this is a one and done affair.  Worth watching, but after seeing it, all the shock and surprise is gone.