All I can say is, "wow." Some reviewers described the tale as "fascinating." The only thing fascinating about it is how gullible the people involved are.I mean the story is totally outrageous: A blond, blue-eyed American teenager from Texas goes missing. Three years later, the child's family receives a call that he's been discovered in Spain. Except when they're "reunited" with their child, he's suddenly in his early-20s, with dark hair and dark eyes, has no recollection of his past, and speaks with a thick French accent. But this apparently doesn't raise their suspicions. Basically, I spent the entire time wondering how people could be so dense. I kept watching, thinking that there must be some explanation or crazy plot twist. But sadly there wasn't. I also cringe at the thought of this being aired to international audiences and confirming stereotypes about Americans' lack of sophistication and naivete.This might make a viable 20-minute story for Dateline or Inside Edition, but it really doesn't merit 90 minutes. The whole story is just too . . . stupid?

To portray historical facts in cinema opens, usually, a delicate tension between the limits of dramatic effect and reliability of past events.Evidently, as the Luis Borges map drew attention, a representation is incapable of disclose the truth nature of a real object. However, a film, per si, do not should be purely objective, but rather pay attention to subjectively dramatic dimension.The issue of balance, therefore, it is stated by the very nature of the movie art. Lapidary carefully the limits of the intelligible and dramatic becomes, therefore, the very craftsmanship of the director. The question becomes more spicy as it brings into play a major limiter of the fictional liberty, that is, the need to narrate the reality without the direct filter of dramaturgy. Within this context, THE IMPOSTER has the exceptional merit of building a charged voltage narrative, which takes a surprisingly suggestive dramatic reversal, concluding with open elements a documentary narrative. More important, everything is just right, without sacrificing the dramatic element. It is to say, extraordinary events combined with a careful and progressive narrative results in a sweeping documentary.As for the actual content of the film, it is, however, the story of a succession of misunderstandings carved by a talented swindler of only 23 years. There is no mention of a great moral or social issue.The incredible story of a master forger do not initiates a deeper debate about immigration policies, or social inequality, the problems of investigative policy of various institutions, etc. It solely – and with indisputable merit – offers a dose of enchantment from incredible and improbable facts, coupled with a dubious criminal investigation.

The Imposter (2012)A creatively made documentary about a French man who was able to take on the identity of someone else against all the odds. This isn't a wild tale like the man who was doctor and airplane pilot and so on, but rather just a young man posing as a kid so he could get into a children's home and be taken care of.Or that was step one. When he was about to be discovered he then pulls one charade after another and ends up in Texas. The gullibility of the family who takes him in is part of the talking head zaniness of it all. Or so that's step two. Or four. The movie takes a whole series of twists because of how the story is told to us. (There is a little feeling of being manipulated and tricked which doesn't feel quite fair, actually, but this does keep you interested.) By the end you know exactly what happened (with one major detail up in the air) and there is a satisfying, wow, what a tale feeling.The filming is really elegant, with really brilliant editing. I think it could have been more compact, and more impactful, but it never really slows down. The cast of characters gradually grows as the investigation into the facts changes, too, which is interesting, leading to the best character of all (beyond the French leading man), an old gumshoe driving his Cadillac and getting to the bottom of at least some of the facts the old fashioned way.You might critique this kind of story by simply saying it would make an amazing amazing segment on 60 Minutes. But that would be 20 fabulous minutes. Instead it's stretched and stretched into five times that (five!) and all the extra details and atmospheric filler makes it very long. Boring? No, not really, but when you're done you'll know it could have been more by being less.

13-year-old Nicholas was last seen playing basketball with his friends in San Antonio, Texas on June 13, 1994. He called his mother to pick him up, but she was asleep and Nicholas's older brother refused to wake her up. Nicholas never made it home and hasn't been seen since. In October of 1997, 3 years after Nicholas disappeared, authorities received a phone call from a young man in Linares, Spain, saying that a young boy had been found. This was apparently Nicolas. He managed to weave himself into the States by lying about this identity.This story is one of the most intriguing, captivating and horrific stories any family could possibly imagine. The film was directed perfectly by Bart Layton with the documentary styling to it, with interviews from the family themselves expressing their feelings at the time also to the present day. For those of you whom have never heard of the story at all, I would definitely recommend seeing The Imposter, it's mind blowing! I was never a massive fan of these documentary films until I saw Senna, which gave me a different idea. However The Imposter has changed my mind again, I would happily see plenty more of them as they can be fascinating. Especially with a storyline as powerful as this.