The Imposter: A true story where self-deception is the biggest crime

The story of Frédéric Bourdin, an adult French Algerian who impersonated a missing Texas kid to get out of trouble in Spain,The Imposter would be unbelievable if it weren’t for the fact that it’s true. But, although it is a documentary that follows facts and real-life events, The Imposter never reveals the full story, leaving thought-provoking questions around exactly who played whom.

The initial story is pretty straightforward. Frédéric, pretending to be a teen in youth shelter, fooled officials into thinking that he was a missing San Antonio child named Nicholas after making international calls to missing persons officials from an office after hours. Informed her brother is alive, his sister, Carey Gibson, rushes to Spain to bring him home. Although surprised by the change in his appearance, accent and demeanor, she positively identifies him and gets him on a plane back to the United States. Surprisingly, when the long-lost child arrives at the airport and members of the immediate family greet him, they too are seemingly convinced that the unusually quiet Frédéric, wrapped in a scarf to obscure his face and features, is their long-lost relative.

Since we know Frédéric is posing as Nicholas from the start, the suspense stems from trying to figure why the American government, the local townspeople and the boy’s own mother don’t realize that Frederic is putting them on. When a private investigator tracks the missing boy down to do a segment for Hard Copy, he quickly calls Frédéric’s bluff and, before long, the FBI is on the case as well.

Director Bart Layton does a good job of conducting interviews with everyone involved in the case, including the visually expressive Frédéric, who cops to the whole ruse and talks extensively about how nervous was when the FBI started asking him questions about how he ended up in Spain.

A fascinating portrait piece with a twist, The Imposter dramatizes some of the past scenes, blending them in with actual video, taped interviews and Frédéric’s own staged reenactments, leaving you—much like the story itself—a little lost on what’s real and what isn’t.