The Imposter -- Movie Review
The Imposter
Directed by Bart Layton
You might want to watch the film before reading this review. This film is confusing, I think by design, and you may want to experience that before delving into this clarification.
This movie is a study in the art of conning. It purports to be a documentary, and it is, ostensibly, but it is also part dramatization. It deals with real events like a documentary, but it approaches those events through the vehicle of illusion rather than as an investigation to ascertain the facts. It works by participating in the con and presenting the con as it unfolded with the result that the viewer is taken in and confused by the presentation. It allows the principals, many of whom are highly skilled liars and con artists, to present their versions of the case, but without challenging their motivation, their thinking process, or their conduct. It is an unlikely meeting of kindred practitioners: one, a mediocre wannabe, the other a polished master. There is so much ambiguity in this film that it left me puzzled and confused for some time after, which is not exactly the expected impact of a documentary.
From the beginning nothing in the film seems believable. The first con artist, Frederic Bourdin, seems mediocre at best, and totally incapable of pulling off a con on the scale for which he is credited. Later in the film we see that he has a long history of failure at exactly the kind of con that he is attempting in this case. The fact that he appears to succeed makes the movie look like a documentation of American stupidity at its most colossal. I was getting bored with it. Everyone seemed so utterly dumb and blind. Even the FBI agent, who at first showed some healthy skepticism, was then completely snowed by fantastic tales of torture and sex abuse. Can a trained FBI agent really be that dumb and gullible? I was starting to think by presenting the American people as a herd of gullible lamebrains the film was an indirect attempt to explain how people like Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Tom DeLay, and Mitt Romney could become national leaders.
But just when I was about to suggest to my friend that we get up and walk out, roughly two-thirds of the way through, the first genuine skepticism appears in the film gets turned on the family of the missing boy, Nicholas Barclay. Bourdin, the ostensive con artist, is the first to realize the horrible truth that he himself is being used to cover up a dark family secret. What appears to be the most undiscerning brainlessness is actually an elaborate, calculated cover up. He knew he was out of his league with Carey Gibson, Nicholas Barclay's sister, and began to come clean in a hurry. Now the movie starts to get interesting. Two skilled practitioners of masquerade meet -- but with very different agendas, and very different levels of skill. Bourdin is a hapless, pathetic wretch. Carey Gibson, is Lady Macbeth.
There is something honest in Frederic Bourdin's search for a loving family through trying to pass himself off as a child. He identifies quite literally with lost children, because that is what he himself is, and the fantasy he attempts to realize is to find a family that will welcome him and love him as their long lost child. It is a touching, sympathetic, but hopelessly misguided search. However, it has a core of authenticity and positive striving. Carey Gibson, by contrast, is much more sinister, malevolent, and dangerous -- and much more effective and convincing as a con artist. Frederic Bourdin fools no one, except maybe the FBI agent. But I expect many will be fooled by Carey Gibson, just as were the officials handling the case of Nicholas's disappearance and reappearance in the guise of Bourdin. She is truly formidable. I would be afraid of her. It is only through her personal intervention that Frederic Bourdin was able to pass himself off as Nicholas Barclay.
But why would she do this? Why would she participate so wholeheartedly in this precarious scam? Stupidity doesn't wash. Carey tries to pass herself off as the dumbest schmuck in the great State of Texas. But there are too many others far ahead of her for that title. I don't buy it. Bourdin knew from the beginning that there must be something wrong with Carey Gibson. Could she really believe that he was her brother who had disappeared four years ago? Was she really that delusional? Could he really be that good a con artist, given his past history of consistent failure? He must have been asking himself from the gitgo why she was doing this. On the plane ride back to the U.S. hardly a word was spoken between them after four years separation. They both knew they were acting in a charade, but he didn't know why. His naive fantasy would quickly crash and burn. Instead of being joyfully welcomed into a loving family as their long lost son, he found himself in the jaws of a family that had not only rejected their son as he had been rejected, they had gone a step further and actually killed him. That must have made him think.
From the beginning nothing in the film seems believable. The first con artist, Frederic Bourdin, seems mediocre at best, and totally incapable of pulling off a con on the scale for which he is credited. Later in the film we see that he has a long history of failure at exactly the kind of con that he is attempting in this case. The fact that he appears to succeed makes the movie look like a documentation of American stupidity at its most colossal. I was getting bored with it. Everyone seemed so utterly dumb and blind. Even the FBI agent, who at first showed some healthy skepticism, was then completely snowed by fantastic tales of torture and sex abuse. Can a trained FBI agent really be that dumb and gullible? I was starting to think by presenting the American people as a herd of gullible lamebrains the film was an indirect attempt to explain how people like Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, Rick Perry, Tom DeLay, and Mitt Romney could become national leaders.
But just when I was about to suggest to my friend that we get up and walk out, roughly two-thirds of the way through, the first genuine skepticism appears in the film gets turned on the family of the missing boy, Nicholas Barclay. Bourdin, the ostensive con artist, is the first to realize the horrible truth that he himself is being used to cover up a dark family secret. What appears to be the most undiscerning brainlessness is actually an elaborate, calculated cover up. He knew he was out of his league with Carey Gibson, Nicholas Barclay's sister, and began to come clean in a hurry. Now the movie starts to get interesting. Two skilled practitioners of masquerade meet -- but with very different agendas, and very different levels of skill. Bourdin is a hapless, pathetic wretch. Carey Gibson, is Lady Macbeth.
There is something honest in Frederic Bourdin's search for a loving family through trying to pass himself off as a child. He identifies quite literally with lost children, because that is what he himself is, and the fantasy he attempts to realize is to find a family that will welcome him and love him as their long lost child. It is a touching, sympathetic, but hopelessly misguided search. However, it has a core of authenticity and positive striving. Carey Gibson, by contrast, is much more sinister, malevolent, and dangerous -- and much more effective and convincing as a con artist. Frederic Bourdin fools no one, except maybe the FBI agent. But I expect many will be fooled by Carey Gibson, just as were the officials handling the case of Nicholas's disappearance and reappearance in the guise of Bourdin. She is truly formidable. I would be afraid of her. It is only through her personal intervention that Frederic Bourdin was able to pass himself off as Nicholas Barclay.
But why would she do this? Why would she participate so wholeheartedly in this precarious scam? Stupidity doesn't wash. Carey tries to pass herself off as the dumbest schmuck in the great State of Texas. But there are too many others far ahead of her for that title. I don't buy it. Bourdin knew from the beginning that there must be something wrong with Carey Gibson. Could she really believe that he was her brother who had disappeared four years ago? Was she really that delusional? Could he really be that good a con artist, given his past history of consistent failure? He must have been asking himself from the gitgo why she was doing this. On the plane ride back to the U.S. hardly a word was spoken between them after four years separation. They both knew they were acting in a charade, but he didn't know why. His naive fantasy would quickly crash and burn. Instead of being joyfully welcomed into a loving family as their long lost son, he found himself in the jaws of a family that had not only rejected their son as he had been rejected, they had gone a step further and actually killed him. That must have made him think.
It became clear to me that Bourdin was right, and that someone in Nicholas's family murdered Nicholas and that the family knew who it was and was determined to keep it a secret. When Bourdin appeared from distant Spain claiming to be Nicholas, it must have caused consternation to Nicholas's family. Carey even pretended not to know where Spain was. The family knew very well that Bourdin was not Nicholas. They knew Nicholas was very dead and is going to stay that way. But what to do about Bourdin? Could they simply say, 'Sorry, we know you are not Nicholas, get lost.'? That might raise the question: "How can you be so sure he is not Nicholas?" It could cast suspicion on the family and may attract unwanted investigative attention. So Carey made a bold, audacious gamble, -- born out of conflicted guilt and extreme anxiety, as well as arrogant confidence in her abilities as a deceiver -- and it was a mistake, in my opinion. She trundled off to Spain to retrieve "Nicholas" and welcome him back into the family -- knowing full well that it was all a lie.
She probably surmised that Bourdin was someone who was trying to gain entry into the United States illegally by faking the identity of a missing child. So she knew she had a partner in crime and deceit. But she was going to give him lessons. So what did she do when she met Bourdin ("Nicholas")? The first thing she did was show him gobs of family pictures and introduced him to the cast of characters he would need to be familiar with as well as fill him in on the background he would need to have in order to be convincing as Nicholas. She was not the least bit skeptical of who he was. She never raised the slightest doubt. Never mind that he had brown eyes and Nicholas had blue eyes, that he had a dark full beard and Nicholas was blond and would only have been 17, and that he spoke English with a Spanish accent. None of that fazed her. Bourdin was going to be Nicholas from now on, and if she could make that stick, then there would be no further danger of this untoward secret unraveling. She even continued the scam after the FBI agent told her that this man who was now living in her house was not Nicholas. When questioned about it in the film interview, she pretended not to have heard the FBI agent properly when she related this devastating information. The family steadfastly refused to give blood samples for the FBI to run DNA tests. The FBI had to get warrants. They really went to the barricades to perpetuate this fraud and keep it alive at all costs.
But, of course, it didn't work, and it could never have worked. That's why it was a mistake for her to go to Spain and participate in this hoax in the first place. If she had just sat tight, Bourdin would have been found out and eventually disappeared on his own. It is well nigh impossible that he would have ever made it to the United States without Carey's help. This would have been just another in Bourdin's long list of failed cons. But that would have left Nicholas as a missing person and a loose end that could always threaten to draw uncomfortable attention. So Carey took a chance and impulsively grasped at this glittering opportunity. But she didn't think it through, and it quickly tarnished. "Fuck him," indeed. Now many eyes are going to be cast upon Nicholas's case and her family for a very long time. The truth may eventually come out. Lady Macbeth may be restlessly sleepwalking for many long nights ahead.
She probably surmised that Bourdin was someone who was trying to gain entry into the United States illegally by faking the identity of a missing child. So she knew she had a partner in crime and deceit. But she was going to give him lessons. So what did she do when she met Bourdin ("Nicholas")? The first thing she did was show him gobs of family pictures and introduced him to the cast of characters he would need to be familiar with as well as fill him in on the background he would need to have in order to be convincing as Nicholas. She was not the least bit skeptical of who he was. She never raised the slightest doubt. Never mind that he had brown eyes and Nicholas had blue eyes, that he had a dark full beard and Nicholas was blond and would only have been 17, and that he spoke English with a Spanish accent. None of that fazed her. Bourdin was going to be Nicholas from now on, and if she could make that stick, then there would be no further danger of this untoward secret unraveling. She even continued the scam after the FBI agent told her that this man who was now living in her house was not Nicholas. When questioned about it in the film interview, she pretended not to have heard the FBI agent properly when she related this devastating information. The family steadfastly refused to give blood samples for the FBI to run DNA tests. The FBI had to get warrants. They really went to the barricades to perpetuate this fraud and keep it alive at all costs.
But, of course, it didn't work, and it could never have worked. That's why it was a mistake for her to go to Spain and participate in this hoax in the first place. If she had just sat tight, Bourdin would have been found out and eventually disappeared on his own. It is well nigh impossible that he would have ever made it to the United States without Carey's help. This would have been just another in Bourdin's long list of failed cons. But that would have left Nicholas as a missing person and a loose end that could always threaten to draw uncomfortable attention. So Carey took a chance and impulsively grasped at this glittering opportunity. But she didn't think it through, and it quickly tarnished. "Fuck him," indeed. Now many eyes are going to be cast upon Nicholas's case and her family for a very long time. The truth may eventually come out. Lady Macbeth may be restlessly sleepwalking for many long nights ahead.