This is one of the craziest stories I've ever heard. The subject matter is fascinating and more than a little creepy - it is hard not to jump to unpleasant conclusions as it progresses, first that the family and law enforcers were monumentally stupid people, and then that the family had a less than pure/stupid reason for welcoming Frederic with open arms (a point that you are whacked with about 2/3rds of the way through quite explicitly, without a satisfying resolution). The law enforcement types just remain monumentally stupid - how could they not have done any checks on the guys' ID? He was a 23 year old Arab posing as a 16 year old American and they just took that on face value (when the face was clearly not that of a blonde haired, blue-eyed American kid!).

Sadly it would have been a much better movie in the hands of a more competent documentary maker - Frederic is an incredibly weird and disturbed guy, that much is obvious, but he is portrayed as being kind of the hero of the tale when the more interesting angle to take would surely be to explore his skilful manipulation of the people and situations around him and let us know how he became that person. In the absence of answers to the questions all viewers will have about the disappearance of Nicholas more questions are just layered on about the origin of the main character in this twisted tale and how he developed his ability to deceive. He is portrayed as smug and utterly without remorse, and the film never fully reveals his motivations - ultimately this is good but far from great, the major disappointment being that you suspect somewhere in there are at least two mind blowing stories just waiting to be told - we just never get to find out what they are. Frustrating, but still well worth watching for the bizarre situation and fascinating lead 'character'.