The Blender - The Imposter - Blu-Ray

Movie: It is a truly incredible story: In 1994, then 13-year-old Nicholas from San Antonio, Texas, disappears without a trace. Three and a half years later, Spanish authorities contact the boy's family and inform them that they have a boy in their care who claims to be Nicholas. Due to traumatic experiences, he can only remember fragments of his past and what has happened to him since his abduction. His sister immediately sets out to bring her brother home. The happiness of having Nicholas back with her makes her completely oblivious to the fact that he bears little resemblance to the boy she once knew and that he suddenly speaks with a heavy accent. The other members of the family also accept the drastic changes, which they interpret as psychological trauma. Only the questioning by an FBI agent casts doubt on the fact that the boy is indeed Nicholas. And little by little, a truth is revealed that has not been fully unravelled to this day...

The Blender is an extremely gripping documentary that has become a bit of a surprise hit in cinemas in the US and UK. The actual true story has been well researched by filmmaker Bart Layton and faithfully recreated in detail using numerous interviews and re-enacted game scenes. The decision to enrich the documentary material with game scenes seems a little strange at first. One feels too much reminded of the rather luridly staged docu-series that can be seen every day on various private channels. But if you get into it, you quickly realize how much effort Layton and his team have taken to retell the story excitingly and as authentically as possible with the selection of suitable locations, well-chosen actors and an atmospheric musical background.

So the events are soon exciting enough to make you forget the somewhat unfamiliar narrative style. Again and again you catch yourself shaking your head in disbelief at what is being told in the documentary. And just when the whole thing seems to make some sense, the next twist comes along, which puts the protagonists' behavior in a whole new light. In the end, not all questions are answered. It seems that the most important answer has been given. Nevertheless, especially regarding the behavior of Nicholas' family, a big question mark remains, which is why the slight goosebumps that repeatedly make themselves felt, especially in the last third, persist even after the end of the film.

If The Blender were pure fiction, the story simply wouldn't work, it would be considered far too over the top and completely implausible. But since it is a real story, which at least in its basic framework corresponds to the truth (assuming that the interviewees have embellished, omitted or altered some details), the film is an extremely gripping real-thriller, which is highly interesting especially in psychological terms and could captivate even those viewers who otherwise have little to do with documentaries. Absolutely worth seeing!

Picture + Sound: The image of the Blu-Ray is very clean, has a very high image sharpness especially in the interview sequences and also provides a very engaging atmosphere with a coherent color scheme. The sound remains largely unspectacular despite a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 mix, as the rather centrally mixed interview sequences set the tone here. But since genre-related no great surround moments should be expected, there is overall for image and sound a more than satisfied: Good!

Extras: The Blu-Ray offers in addition to the main film a few worth seeing extras about the making of the film. In addition to a short making of (approx. 4 min.) about the filming, there are other featurettes about the story (approx. 4:41 min.), the person Frédéric (approx. 5:50 min.), the real drama (approx. 5:32 min.), as well as about the atmospheric music (approx. 3:15 min.). The trailer for the film, in both German and English versions, rounds out the scant but watchable supplemental offerings. Good!

Conclusion: The Blender takes a little getting used to at first due to its mix of documentary and feature film. However, the truly unbelievable story is so compelling that viewers are quickly drawn into the action regardless. A gripping thriller as only life can write it. The Blu-Ray of the film is technically well done and also offers a few extras worth watching. All this ultimately leads to the deserved conclusion Absolutely recommended!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp