The Imposter

Documentary directed by Bart Layton that uses interviews and dramatised recreations to piece together the bizarre story of a missing boy and the young man who impersonated him. Nicholas Barclay was 13-years-old when he disappeared from San Antonio, Texas in 1994, leaving his family bereft. Over three years later, he turned up unexpectedly in Spain and was flown home to his family - albeit this Nicholas spoke with a French accent, had grown a beard and had different-coloured hair and eyes. Astoundingly, the boy's family managed to overlook these glaring irregularities until a private investigator was able to prove that he wasn't their son at all, but rather Frederic Bourdin, a 23-year-old French con artist. The film explores the human capacity to believe what we want to believe in spite of all evidence to the contrary. (4DVD)