The Imposter Reviews

This was a stunning documentary movie about the 1997 incident. Tells the story of a Texas boy who returned home after the 3 years of disappearance. Created a lot thrilling excitation that equals to any masterpiece crime-thriller movie. Particularly to say it is what Hitchcock would have chosen to do if he was alive today. Sadly, it was a documentary movie, that does not really stop anyone from a watch. It is one the documentary you should watch if you are a Hitchcock fan, especially if you are interested in the crime-thrillers that deals about identity crises. As it is a true story, it was unbelievable.

A 16 year-old Nicolas Barclay from Texas was missing for 3 years. All the sudden one day he appears with the changed personality. That brings joy in his family who was praying for his return. But Nicolas tells the strange story about his disappearance that convince his family, but authorities suspect that something is not right. What is true and what is not is the remaining narration that reveals as it happened.

I saw the opportunity.

This movie is what reminds me the Indian movie 'Naan'. Same kind of narration that does not keep the secret from the viewers, but each other from the movie characters. It was about claiming the fake identity, that was not done perfectly because of the faultless display, but failed to recognize the truth, especially in the modern world with all the facilities are available to detect such flaws. Like saying, all is well when everybody is happy. There are lots of similar incidents happening, but everything won't come into the lights. I am glad this story brought into the silver screen.

It was awesome, I thoroughly stuck with it till the end. Yes, the end leaves behind many doubts about the whole structure of the case that could possibly take us to the day since Nicolas was missing. But in another angle it is a kind of offense to believe where the story leaves everything and finger points the other way. Whatever the truth is, it leaves us on a thin border of the two possibilities and we have to take what way we think could possibly would have happened. In the meantime the mystery about Nicolas keeps unanswered. I hope this puzzle will be solved one day in the near future.

If you ever have a chance to take someone else's identity and lead their life, would you like to?
It's a twisted question and frankly it's very difficult to answer to.
This is not the first movie/documentary, I have watched that deals with impersonators. Taking lives is the one that deals with this issue as well but that movie fails at many points and turns out to be more cheezy than a thriller. You can see why I couldn't be excited about this documentary.
I watched it and within 10 mins I was IN the documentary. It is amazingly made. The re-enactments are great, cinematography is top notch and all these things beautifully support the highly interesting tale of the imposter and his thinking. The best part is that you get to hear both sides. It has a twist in the end that you would like to debate about and question director's intention behind it but over all, I had a great time with all of them in the documentary and I had this grin on my face. Very thrilling and very entertaining.

Really recommend it. Watch it for sure.