Like a lot of documentaries about crime puzzles, many of them are in desperate need of a narrator if for no other reason than it may be difficult to understand how all the pieces fit, risking leaving the viewer with a jumbled mess. After having viewed this documentary, I wasn't sure how all the puzzle pieces fit together. I've read two books about so-called Clark Rockefeller, the German provincial Christian Gerhartsreiter, who impersonated a Rockefeller and fooled the elites of New York for well over 10 years. The present documentary certainly added much I didn't know before, but if I had come into this subject with a clean slate, I think I would have been very confused. The time-line of events is not made clear, particularly when and where Christian Gerhartsreiter was under his many aliases. Certainly, the best known is Clark Rockeller, but he also want by Christopher Chichester, Chip Smith, and Chris C. Crowe among others. Although these aliases were mentioned, it wasn't always clear exactly when and where he used them.
In the late 1970's, Christian Gerhartsreiter who had been born and raised in the small provincial town of Siegsdorf in southern Germany came to the United States intent on "becoming" an American. He didn't just assimilate himself into America society. He decided to pass himself off as one of the nation's elites. After convincing some American's to "sponsor" him, he moved to San Marcos, CA, a quasi-Beverly Hills located in the northeastern part of the Los Angeles area. There, he named himself Christopher Chichester and claimed he was in the upper circles of Hollywood. He freeloaded off the elites of San Marcos who believed his story that he was a descendant of Lord Mountbatten. He even went so far as to imply he was a cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain. Eventually, he would steal a car and murder at least one person, probably two, and then he disappeared.
A few years later in the 1990's, a young man name of Clark Rockefeller infiltrated the upper-crust of New York, claiming he was a member of the Rockefeller family, one of the most elite and prestigious of American clans. He spoke and presented himself in a way which endeared him to the NY elites and they bought his story hook, line and sinker. In America's largest and arguably most elitist city, Clark was given access to exclusive clubs, given prestigious jobs, and invited into elite circles. Even though he was supposedly worth $100's of millions, he freeloaded off of other people's generosity, often compelling companions to pay for drinks and dinners. And yet, almost none of them ever questioned that he was anything but a Rockefeller. He married a woman making $1 million a year working for a prestigious NY firm, and convinced her to give him full access to her bank account. He also claimed to have inherited an art collection which turned out to be filled with fakes and copies.
Back in San Marcos, police dug up dead bodies at a residence in which he used to reside, and were getting closer to the man who had called himself Christopher Chichester. The gig was up when, after his wife divorced him after a private detective determined he wasn't a Rockefeller, he kidnapped their only daughter. When the story broke, the Rockefellers claimed they didn't know who he is and that he definitely wasn't one of the family. He was eventually arrested and flown back to the Los Angeles area to stand trial of murder where he was convicted.
Even stranger than the incredible false identities he assumed was that so many people bought into his story. Nearly everyone he met were convinced he was a member of the Rockefeller family, and those in San Marcos believed he was descended from Lord Mountbatten. The documentary is mostly comprised of interviews of people who interacted with "Clark Rockefeller" aka Christian Gerhartsreiter. Very few actually questioned he was telling the truth. Far stranger was that many people could have easily researched online to find out whether this man was who he claimed to be. Of particular interest is Walter Kirn, writer of the novel "Up in the Air", who befriended Rockefeller and bought into his story. He admits he had witnessed many hints which might have led him to discover for himself whether Clark was telling the truth about his lineage but failed to do so. However, he missed these opportunities because it sounds like it never occurred to him until after Gerhartsreiter's arrest that he would have been lying.
