Being manipulated is the worst ever. Living a lie refusing to accept reality; desperation to hold onto falsehood are all polished miseries, devils dressed as angels. In this extraordinary film,The Imposter​, directed by Bart Layton is about this sociopath-conmen back in the 1990s. A Texas family's 13 year old son, Nicholas Barclay, was reported missing. Three years later they received a phone call stating that their son turned up...in Spain. Once the overly excited and astonished family brought him back home, they noticed that their "son" was completely different. He was described as a mysterious tall man, always had a scarf covering his face, muffled cap, dark glasses, darker skin tone, different colored eyes, and clearly much older than 16. Winning the “Outstanding Debut” award in 2013, Bart Layton does a superior job at presenting this bizarre yet true-crime documentary from various viewpoints, inserting reenactments and home videos to tell this twisted story of Nicholas Barclay.

​

​

In the beginning of the film, Layton portrays Frederic Bourdin as this misunderstood man who was hated by both parents who didn't have a loving childhood, and just wanted to find a family who would fill in those needs. Layton goes on letting Bourdin speak about his backstory of his childhood and his parents. His father was a racist man who was furious when he found out his daughter had a child with an Algerian man. His grandfather would purposely abuse him just for the fun of it. As Bourdin stated, “For as long as I can remember I wanted to be someone else.” It’s very unusual seeing a documentary of a criminal where the director has his audience feel some type of empathy towards them. Not only does this give the reason on why he would impersonate someone else but also raises the awareness of his manipulative acts throughout the film.

​

​

The psychology definition of manipulation is a type of social influence that aims to change the behavior or perception of others through indirect, deceptive, or underhanded tactics. Bourdin did an uneasy but incredible job at manipulating everyone around him including the police, FBI, social workers, etc. According to Preston Ni M.S.B.A., “Chronic manipulation is often used as a survival mechanism to cope with a challenging or competitive environment, especially when one lacks relative power and control.” As stated before, Bourdin didn’t have such a pleasing childhood. All he wanted was to be loved and accepted by someone to make up that lost time. When the Texas family accepted Bourdin into their home and immediately welcomed him and showed him love and respect, he felt like he belonged. He didn’t want to let that feeling go. He was lacking that love and affection from his biological parents so he went searching for another way to receive that.

​

​

There’s nothing good that comes out of manipulating people. This act takes many forms, but it’s basically trying to take advantage of someone, gaining power and control over them and use you (Dr. George Simon). Manipulative people try to make sure they have you wrapped around their finger, so you do whatever is in their will, while all being very sneaky for someone to follow up on their plan. Bourdin was very clever, he was calculating the family’s move. Not only the family but the authorities as well. He told the authorities stories on how he was abducted by the navy who also abducted other “missing” children. He told them that they sexually abused them, tortured him, injected some needle into his eye to change his hair color, made him learn another language, etc. He stuck to this story for so long and used it every time he got into it with the authorities. He had everyone fooled for a while. He got himself into so much trouble for being so addicted to manipulating. He hurt the family who he deceived and stomped all over them. He was selfish and didn't care about anyone's feelings. Now the family sufferers, knowing that their son is still out there missing.

​

​

The film was very clever, entertaining and informative in many ways. It gets the audience to contemplate on the behavior of manipulation and get them to be aware of those around them. Manipulating anyone is HIGHLY discouraged. Like it or not, manipulative people are everywhere. This is to make sure no one here is being manipulated or on the pathway of manipulating others. There are many ways to stop or avoid being manipulative, as you can also look this up: Just remember to be aware of your behaviors and emotions, say “no” or confront the person you think is using you, avoid using personalization and self-blame, set consequences, etc.

​

​