The events chronicled within the true crime documentary The Imposter are riveting. The story feels very much like it was ripped from the pages of an escapist paperback novel. On that note, I wish we were talking about a work of fiction. But sadly, the painful ordeal profiled in The Imposter is entirely true. It’s a heartbreaking, yet fascinating, look at the manifestation of grief and the manner in which it leaves a person especially susceptible to deceit and false hope. The doc provides a firsthand look at a devastating tragedy and the stomach-churning aftermath.
The Imposter chronicles the disappearance of 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay in the mid-1990s. Several years after Nicholas vanished from his Texas town, a young man surfaced in Spain, claiming to be the missing child. While the Barclay family was initially ecstatic to have Nicholas back home, they couldn’t help but be concerned by some of the inconsistencies in his story. The Barclay family ultimately came to wonder if Nicholas had truly returned or if they were being duped by a cruel and calculated con artist.
Sadly, as the film’s title suggests, the grieving family was being deceived by a duplicitous imposter. An imposter by the name of Frederic Bourdin.
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What separates The Imposter from a lot of true crime docs is that it puts the viewer face-to-face with the criminal at the center of the ordeal. Mere minutes into the film’s runtime, we are introduced to the con man that raised the Barclay family’s hopes, only to dash them and ultimately reopen an old wound. His presence (and lack of remorse) makes this film especially tough to endure.
The interviews bounce back and forth between the Barclay family and Bourdin. Accordingly, we hear from the family regarding why they were so eager to accept the person they believed to be Nicholas into their home and how grief may have informed their actions. We additionally get context on how it felt when the Barclays learned that they had been preyed upon. From there, we hear from Bourdin, who recounts every detail with a grin like the cat that ate the canary.
As Bourdin tells his side of the story, he emphasizes that he just wanted to know what it was to be loved. On one hand, I can relate. Being loved is a universal need. But any sympathy I may have felt is overridden by his sense of entitlement. He seems to be attempting to justify what he did because of traumatic events from his past. His perspective appears to be clouded by self-centered tunnel vision. Accordingly, he can’t seem to grasp how badly he hurt the Barclay family. And that’s nothing short of maddening.
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At times, Bourdin laughs at the details surrounding his duplicitous actions and it’s hard to say for sure if it’s a nervous chuckle that arose as a function of embarrassment, or if he actually finds what he did to be amusing. If I had to guess, I would say that he may be enjoying reliving the ordeal. If that’s the case, it seems to suggest he experiences sociopathic tendencies.
In spite of the painful aspects of the film, watching The Imposter is still quite captivating. The reenactments are well done and even serve to give the film a cinematic quality. Seeing as the details of the case are every bit as sensational as anything you’re prone to find in a narrative thriller, that distinction seems appropriate.
In spite of the viewer immediately knowing Bourdin is deceiving the Barclay family, the film still manages to be a harrowing and captivating watch. Because the story is recounted in (mostly) chronological order, it builds to a level of intensity that had me on the edge of my seat, much like a scripted thriller would. As a whole, The Imposter is a fascinating, yet heartbreaking watch that gives us a front-row seat to the uglier side of the human condition.
If you’re curious to check out The Imposter, you can find it streaming on Peacock, as of the publication of this post.
Tags: Dark Documentaries The Imposter True Crime
Categorized: Editorials
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