The Perfect Story is a 2022 Canadian documentary film directed by Michelle Shephard.
[1] The film revisits Shephard's 2010 news story about Ismael Abdulle, a young Somali man who had his hand and foot amputated by Al-Shabaab militants.
Her initial reportage sparked a campaign to get him transported to another country as a refugee.
However, the documentary explores the ethical dilemmas Shephard faced when Abdulle later admitted he had lied about key details of the incident, revealing he was guilty of attempted theft as Al-Shabaab had claimed.
[3] It was also screened at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto as the opening film of the annual Doc Soup fall screening series,[4] and had its television premiere on TVO on October 18.