The Imposter (2012)
Here's a first, a documentary! The Imposter is the story of missing son and the time he was found and came back with a strange accent three years later. It's a fascinating story, one that is unsettling to know that it actually happened. The Imposter is a good companion to Brad's solid pick last week, Compliance. Both are dark and show just how far people are willing to go in an outrageous web of lies. Put in a terrifying or a remarkable situation, people are more gullible than normal, they are open to believing anything.
First off, excellent pick Josh! When I think of Movie of the Week, I think of a film that will leave you thinking about it long after the credits role. A movie that begs for discussion and a deeper examination. 'The Imposter' does all this and then more.
ReplyDeleteBefore I get into a deeper discussion of the subject matter put into focus by the film, I want to give praise to the film making. 'The Imposter' not only has a great subject matter, it is really well made. It's music and images, whether it be actual footage or reenacted, matches the tone of it's dark and ere subject. There is a solid build up to a final thirty minutes that you can not take your eyes off of. How often can one say that about a documentary.
In 'The Imposter', there are two sides: the Gibson family and Frederic Bourdin. Questions of both sides are raised in the film. Neither side is really viewed a positive light. The motives of both sides immediately come to mind when exploring this film. How could the Gibson family think that Frederic was actually there son? Wouldn't it be obvious that it isn't? When watching the film, I thought to myself 'How they be so gullible'. Then as film goes on it is suggested that they believed Frederic's lie because they wanted to cover something up. This makes sense and easily adds up. Because of this my question is how far would someone go to cover something up? Is right and wrong or future consequences thrown out the door?
This there is Frederic. Why would he do all this to become someone else? My thought throughout the film and still is that his mental health is an issue but ill ask the question would a person in their right mind do all of this? The way that he still kept try to impersonate other people even in prison, his demeanor and what he had to say made me question his mental health.
The minute I saw The Imposter I knew that it was destined to be my next MotW. It has so many things going for it. The amazing story, top notch film-making, and unique style all come together to make an unforgettable view experience.
ReplyDeleteIt's rare for a documentary to captivate an audience like The Imposter does. Brad, the last thirty minutes here were more exciting than any thirty minutes of any single documentary I've ever seen. That says a lot about the quality here.
The Gibson family amazed me with how despicable, and moreover, stupid, they were. Whether they killed their real son or not, and I think it's a 99.9% chance that they did, they could have just said Frederic wasn't their real kin. There would have been no consequences and the case would have been dropped. Since they let Frederic come and live with them, they opened up so many possibilities to be caught in their lies that the eldest son took his own life. That's so crazy.
Since people are crazy, there is absolutely no limit to which someone will go to in order to cover something up. After three years of relative calm, the Gibson family panicked. The unease and guilt grew within them and they began to act irrationally. If letting someone who was clearly not their son live with them could fool anyone, it was worth a shot to the Gibson family. In their case, right and wrong was thrown out the window when their son disappeared. The Frederic lie looks pedestrian in comparison.
Frederic has a multiple personality disorder or some other similar disorder, or maybe even addiction. I'm not so sure that a normal person, who is healthy both mentally and physically, could ever behave in this manner. Frederic kind of reminds me of a twisted version of Frank Abagnale from Catch Me If You Can, check out his amazing wikipedia entry by clicking his name. The two both are imposters doing similar things but one seems to have sanity and the other doesn't. It's alarming to see how good people can be at tricking other people.