Review of The Imposter (2012) by David S — 28 Sep 2013

Everyone pretends to be someone else at some point in their lives. Children indulge in a little harmless fun pretending to be Optimus Prime re-enacting the epic fight scene with Megatron in the animated Transformers movie; insecure idiots fantasise about being a globe-trotting superspy in a desperate bid to get laid or as a defensive mechanism against a perceived scary world. We all wear masks, depending on the social situation, and it's unlikely you'll get to really know someone until you spend some serious time with them, they start to relax and their mask starts slipping.

But occasionally, people take it too far. These days identity theft is more prevalent (just ask Jason Bateman) and the great pretender and part-time Transformer in Bart Layton's creepy and troubling documentary 'The Imposter' takes it to sinister extremes. In fact, he is so good at...er...imposting...that if he were to pretend to be Optimus Prime he could definitely pull off the portentous vocal delivery, noble-yet-sanctimonious attitude and could probably transform into a pretty convincing articulated lorry with wheels and everything.

The less you know about the sorry and ultimately tragic tale behind 'The Imposter', the more likely it will surprise and affect you. It starts out as a fairly clear-cut case of a grieving Texan family still struggling to come to terms with the disappearance of their 13 year old son when, nearly four years later, they receive a call from the Spanish authorities to inform them that someone claiming to be their son has been found alive and semi-well in a children's home. But, like those squabbling Autobots and Decepticons, there's more than meets the eye, and what should be a miraculous tear-squirting back-from-the-dead style life-affirming story begins to take increasingly ominous turns that calls into question the motives of all involved to the point that the phrase 'trust no one' will keep popping into your slightly perplexed head.

Much like how our main protagonist is unnervingly adept at pretending to be someone else, so this intriguing documentary masquerades as a dark thriller, which touches on the sometimes bizarre effects of grief, family dysfunction and the failings of 'the system'. The documentary as a legitimate art-form and genre has been having a bit of a renaissance these last few years, and 'The Imposter' is the latest example of an increasingly fine oeuvre whose stories (and their execution) are more imaginative and interesting than anything Hollywood's bankrupt idea-machine currently curls out. Deftly combining dramatic reconstructions with the usual talking head-type interviews, Bart Layton tells a compelling story in a non-judgemental way, throwing up questions which challenge the viewer's pre-conceptions until it's difficult to know where one's sympathy lies.

Ultimately, like all decent cinema, it gives you enough food for thought to satiate that pulsating organ in your head whilst leaving you to interpret the truth behind the strange unfolding events. If this had been a fictional Hollywood film there would be cries of "Bullshit!" from all corners of the auditorium. But if it had been made by Hollywood, it wouldn't be much of a stretch to imagine them turning it into a gross-out comedy starring overpaid talent-phobic man-child Adam Sandler (tagline - "He's back from the dead...and wrong in the head!"), or one of those depressingly generic animated heart-warming tales of reconciliation starring a bunch of bears voiced by...I dunno...Bruce Willis. Sometimes, tired old clichés are applicable, and in 'The Imposter's' case truth really is stranger (and more watchable) than fiction.