I Am The Cheese 1983

Adam's quest begins

Fifteen-year-old Adam Farmer feels compelled to uncover what lies buried in his mind. He embarks on a bike trip toward Rutterburg, Vermont, carrying a package for his father as a pretext to pry into his past. The journey promises self-discovery, but its true nature remains unclear at the outset.

Amy's call and a growing suspicion

Adam receives a call from his girlfriend Amy, who mentions her father met a reporter from Adam's supposed hometown. The reporter has never heard of a Farmer living there, arousing suspicion about Adam's past. The seed of doubt about his origins begins to germinate.

Birth certificates reveal two identities

Adam investigates his family and uncovers two birth certificates bearing his name but with different birthdates—February 14 and Bastille Day's July 14—shaking his sense of self. The discrepancies hint at a hidden past and a manufactured identity. This discovery sets him on a collision course with his father.

Confrontation and the truth about his name

Adam confronts his father about the forged life and the discrepancies surrounding his birth. In response, his father reveals shocking truths about their family's past and the reasons for their relocation. The conversation shatters Adam's previously trusted image of his family.

Father reveals Paul Delmonte and Witness Protection

The father discloses Adam's real name—Paul Delmonte—and explains the family was forced into a Witness Protection-type program after his testimony against corrupt officials. The revelation reframes the entire narrative of Adam's life and his memories.

The 'journey' turns out to be inside a facility

Adam realizes his bike trip to Vermont is not real travel but a mental construct. The journey continues within a psychiatric setting, as if circling a building rather than crossing landscapes. The line between memory and therapy becomes blurred.

Encounters with facility residents and staff

Along the imagined route, Adam meets people who are actually patients and workers at the psychiatric facility. Each encounter doubles as a psychiatric session, revealing fragments of his memories or concealments about his parents' fate. The 'travel companions' are pawns in a therapeutic interrogation.

Parents' disappearance tied to adversaries

Adam learns that his parents disappeared while evading dangerous adversaries linked to the government corruption they testified against. In truth, they were terminated rather than simply vanished, a grim fate explained in the therapy sessions. The past's shadows loom over every recollection.

Memories documented in psychiatric sessions

The memories Adam recounts are recorded as 'psychiatric sessions,' which are in fact interrogations designed to gauge what he knows about his father's involvement. The sessions blur the line between treatment and investigation. Each recording traps a fragment of truth in a larger web of secrets.

Quest to locate his presumed parents

Within the sessions, Adam strives to determine the whereabouts of his parents, seeking any lead that could explain their disappearance. The search is less about geography and more about uncovering a hidden past behind protective measures. The pursuit continues as the truth remains elusive.

Final interview reveals two grim outcomes

The final psychiatric interview concludes with two possible futures: Adam could be terminated, or the questioning could continue until he dies. Neither outcome offers solace, underscoring the ominous stakes of the revelation. The end of the session leaves his fate uncertain.