In today’s video, we will go through 2012’s Documentary Crime Movie, The Imposter.
Spoilers ahead! You have been warned. Make sure to give this video a thumbs up, comment
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In 1994, 13-year-old Nicholas Barclay (Nick) disappeared from San Antonio, Texas.
That day of Nick’s disappearance, his mom, Beverly, had sent him off to play basketball,
and she told him to come home by dinner. But Nick never arrived home.
Three years and four months later, in Spain, police radio chatters and a couple informs
the police about finding a small boy with no ID and documentation. They ask the police
to come and help him. The boy is sitting inside a phone booth when it’s raining outside
with thunder rumbling.
Soon, the police siren wails. A police officer goes near him and asks him something in Spanish,
but the boy doesn’t understand. He is taken to the station, where they ask him questions
about himself in Spanish, but the boy remains silent. A police officer calls someone on
the phone, and the boy is soon taken to a children’s home.
At the shelter, they ask him his name and address. He tells them that he is from America
and expresses his desire to contact his family himself. He doesn’t want his family to receive
a call from the police or the prosecutor, or the judge in Spain. And due to the time
difference between Spain and America, he asks the officers to stay at the office that night
and call his family early in the morning.
But his real motive was to look for an American identity to steal that night so that he can
present it to the police the other day. He then calls several police stations in America.
Pretending to be the Spanish police, he informs them of a lost boy who looks American. He
then tells them that the boy’s name and information are unknown. He does this to,
in turn, receive information about missing boys from America so that he can steal their
identity.
The American police ask him to contact the center for missing and exploited children.
He then calls them and tells them the same thing. The lady there finds the details of
Nicholas Barclay (Nick), who has been missing for many years from San Antonio. The boy then
asks for a photo of Nick and receives it through the fax at the office. He then decides to
present himself as Nick to the officers the following day.
The boy finds Beverly’s information and calls her, telling her that Spain police have
found Nick in Linares, Spain. Beverly is beyond surprised and immediately calls her daughter
Carey. Later, when Carey calls the boy, he pretends to be Jonathan Dorian from the children’s
shelter. He tells her that Nick was abducted and abused, and he is hurt and traumatized
and was found in the street. Carey promises Nick that she would come to take him home.
The following day, the FBI is notified about Nick. A lady FBI officer immediately calls
Carey and tells her that they have to interview Nick as soon as he is brought back. The FBI
coordinates with the US Embassy in Spain about the matter. The morning, the imposter receives
a package from the center of missing children with a flier of Nick’s description and a
color photo of him. He looks at the photo and finds that he looks nothing like him as
Nick was blonde with blue eyes. He burns the picture of Nick.
He soon hears that someone from the US Embassy is coming to get him. He doesn’t know what
to do, so he runs away from the children’s shelter. The official from the US Embassy
coming to get him finds out and is ordered to find Nick. The Nick imposter tries to hitchhike
a ride out of the town, but the official from the US Embassy finds him. Nick is then taken
back to the shelter, where the shelter director tells him that his sister Carey is on her
way to Spain from San Antonio to get him.
Meanwhile, Carey gets on the plane to Spain and lands in Spain after some time. Meanwhile,
Nick’s imposter tries coloring his hair blond. He also gets the tattoos that Nick
had, as mentioned in the file he received. Carey drives to the shelter with the US Embassy
official. Carey then calls him, and a little later, Nick’s imposter comes to meet her.
When Carey sees him, she immediately hugs him and acknowledges him as her real brother.
The imposter is relieved and tells her that he loves her. Carey shows the imposter some
pictures of Nick narrating the photos she is showing. The imposter doesn’t talk much
with her but whispers in a new accent.
Later, a legal meeting is held with the US Embassy officials, police, judge, Carie, and
the imposter of Nick. The judge shows five pictures to the imposter and asks him to recognize
the people in those pictures. Those are the pictures Carey showed him earlier. He identifies
most of the people in the picture, and the judge is convinced of him being Nick. He is
then declared a US citizen.
That night, Carey and Nick don’t talk with each other much and go to sleep. As soon as
Carey falls asleep, Nick gets out of the room and thinks of running away but abandons the
plan in hopes of getting a chance to live his life to the fullest.
The following day, Carey and the imposter go to the airport for a flight to the US.
Carey looks at Nick and sees him very cautious about getting on the flight. They get on the
plane. Everyone in the US is excited about Carey returning with Nick. The imposter realizes
that there is no going back now.
When they arrive in the US, Beverly picks them up at the airport. She realizes that
Nick has changed a lot, but she thinks about what he has been through and clears it as
normal. The imposter Nick rarely speaks with anyone. Beverly senses that he is feeling
uneasy. They then drive home from the airport, and everyone is happy about Nick’s return.
The next day, Nick sees what he expected the US to be. He seems to be living his dream.
He forgets his real identity and lives happily as Nick. He gradually starts living a normal
life. He has a typical routine. He spends time with his family. He goes for a drive
with his nephew. He also spends time with his friends.
The family doesn’t ask about what happened to him when he disappeared. When the FBI doesn’t
hear from the family when Nick returns to the US, they decide to meet Nick at the San
Antonio missing children’s center to conduct her first interview. The purpose of that interview
is to get his account of his kidnapping and his assistance in locating his abductors.
The FBI officer notices changes in Nick; he doesn’t appear 16, has a shallow dark beard,
and is nervous. The imposter looks pretty uncomfortable during the entire conversation.
Pretending to be Nick, he tells her that he was abducted by some overseas military in
a van and flown over to places he never knew of. He was then kept in a room with other
children, and they were chloroformed. He also says that he was subjected to military sexual
abuse every night. He describes the military men as American, Mexican, and European. He
also adds that he was beaten and his arms and legs were broken, and he also faced a
lot of torture. The military also put a solution in his eye that changed its color. He then
explains how he was able to escape the imprisonment.
He was in Spain after he escaped and that was when the policemen found him. The FBI
officer believes everything the imposter says. She thinks that he has experienced everything
he said because of the detailed information he provides her. The imposter finally feels
like he has won. Everyone in the family believes that he is Nick, and nobody is suspicious
of him.
Some days later, a private investigator named Charlie Parker shows interest in Nick’s
story. A television producer asks him to get Nick’s interview. The FBI is also supportive
of Nick being on TV. Many televisions cover his story.
Charlie notices his eye and finds his eye color has changed, but he is peculiarly interested
in his ears. He says that human ears are like their fingerprints. He uploads the image of
his ear on the computer, and he finds that the ears were different from real Nick. He
initially thinks that the imposter is a spy. He tries investigating the imposter. He calls
the FBI office and tells her about his findings. She thinks, why would the family accept an
imposter as their son or brother.
Meanwhile, Nick goes to school for the first time on a school bus. He feels pleased about
getting to go to an American school. He feels lucky about getting a second chance to live
life again.
On the other hand, Charlie is sure about Nick being an imposter. The FBI also starts digging
into this case. They start with the forensic reports. The imposter is taken to a doctor,
and the doctor analyzes his story. The doctor suspects that something is wrong with Nick
as he doesn’t see the physiological change in body posture, pupil size, and heart rate
while he is talking about his traumas. The doctor also notices his accent. He says that
the imposter is not raised in an English-speaking home.
Immediately, the FBI officer notifies the family about the imposter and tells them not
to take him home. But when they get back from the hospital, Carey is there to pick him up.
The FBI allows the imposter to go to the family home temporarily.
During the following days, Charlie starts investigating around the neighborhood. He
finds that the imposter Nick causes trouble and has arguments in the house, because of
which the police often come to the house. When the FBI asks for a blood sample, Beverly
refuses. Carey also feels that they don’t need to prove anything. The imposter feels
that the family knows of him being an imposter, but they aren’t doing anything. According
to him, the family is also pretending to accept him as their real son, despite knowing that
he is an imposter.
While investigating, Charlie finds out that Nick’s brother Jason had reported Nick trying
to break into the house after some months of his disappearance. Charlie thinks that
something happened to Nick at his own house and maybe he was killed there. Soon, the imposter
also finds out about that. The imposter then cannot pretend to be Nick anymore. The FBI
is also onto him, and they send his prints to Interpol.
The imposter then gets very nervous. Charlie continuously starts tailing him, and he is
also on the constant watch of the FBI. One day, the imposter slits his face with a blade
thinking all his impersonating act is over. Interpol also finds the truth and faxes the
information to the FBI. Charlie meets the imposter in a restaurant one day. He confronts
him and asks him about the truth. Meanwhile, the FBI receives the fax from Interpol.
The truth finally reveals, and the truth comes out. It turns out that the imposter is named
Frederic Bourdin from France. He is 23 years old and is wanted by Interpol. He tells the
same thing to Charlie at the restaurant. He starts telling Charlie about his criminal
activities. He moves from different shelters around Europe under fake aliases.
Finally, Interpol arrests the imposter, Bourdin. He contacts the police and tells them about
the family’s participation in the disappearance of the real Nick. The police open an investigation
about Nick. Charlie continues his investigation and digs the backyard of Nick’s house. Meanwhile,
the FBI asks Beverly to take a polygraph test. The FBI finally catches her lie in the third
test. They question her about Nick, but she gets agitated and runs off. She claims that
she doesn’t know anything about Nick. Now the suspect is Jason, Nick’s brother. The
FBI tracks Jason to a rehabilitation center.
When the FBI questions Jason about Nick, but he doesn’t seem interested in his brother
and refuses to help in any way. At the same time, Charlie is digging in the backyard,
but he finds nothing. Later, the FBI finds Jason escaped the rehabilitation center and
has died of an overdose. The FBI still suspects that the family knows what happened to Nick,
but the whole family refuses to acknowledge the fact.
Bourdin still keeps calling the parents of missing children and remains a pathological
liar. He is a mentally unstable person. Nick’s family despises him for blaming them for Nick’s
death even after taking care of him, thinking he was Nick.
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