Review by bjacob

Marco likes the spotlight, and dramatic stories are for him a viable mean of obtaining it. In his youth, he tries his hand at telling imaginary feats of heroism, but later he will fly even higher, so close to the sun indeed. He will become the president of an association of deportees: a much loved president, working tirelessly and effectively to raise the profile of the association. Problem is, he's not a deportee.

His story reminded me of the lady who pretended to be black, in the strict sense that Marco too believes strongly in the cause, and believes himself to be useful to it: the lady probably believed it was just an accident of birth that made her be actually white, Marco similarly believes that him not being a deportee is just a detail, an accident of history. He will go to great lengths to reconcile his personal truth with the "real truth", or more exactly with the public truth, the mediatic narrative.

This is a character study, not a thriller, albeit there is strong tension in the first half. Ultimately, the authors tell us, what we present to the world is never truly what we are: Marco just went a bit higher, just a bit too close to the sun.