Three Identical Strangers

Three Identical Strangers

Directed by Tim Wardle

The Story:
Born on July 12, 1961, triplets David, Eddie, and Bobby were given up for adoption, and were each adopted by a different family, without knowing the others exist.  By sheer chance in 1980, Bobby learned about Eddie, and after their surprise reunion hit the newspapers, David learned that he was the third brother, and the three became inseparable.  Only later did they begin learning the more devastating truths to their adoptions, and faced the dire consequences that followed.

The Synopsis:
When it comes to documentaries, they mostly follow a certain pattern, offering cold hard facts and not really providing anything more.  "Three Identical Strangers" deviates from that mold in that it offers something I wasn't expecting - a thrilling mystery that, as many people in the documentary said, seemed so outrageous it could hardly be believed.

The film opens with the heartwarming tale that most everybody knows.  Bobby Shafran attends college as a freshman, but it seems that the whole school knows him, and call him Eddie.  He is then approached by a friend of Eddie Galland who asks if he was adopted, and informs him that he has a twin brother.  The two meet and it makes national news, and it's during this time that David Kellman sees his identical brothers on a newspaper cover, and realizes that he's the third missing brother.  The three then spend a joyous time reuniting, hitting the news circuit, and making up for lost time.

It's definitely joyous and inspiring, but it also had me wondering where the documentary was heading, since it already included the brothers' reunion about fifteen minutes into the film.  I was hoping it wasn't going to be a whole documentary on what they did after they met each other, because while it was uplifting, it was also becoming a bit tedious - I wasn't planning on spending my afternoon watching how they lived a celebrity lifestyle in New York City.

The documentary takes a turn when their parents confronted the adoption agency, and asked why they weren't informed that the boys were triplets.  Even though they gave a wholly plausible answer - they never expected one family to take in three brothers - there seemed to be something deeper than that.  When one of the parents goes back to get his umbrella, he sees the agency workers popping champagne and celebrating something - and that becomes the dark mystery that takes the documentary on a wild thrill ride about conspiracy, hidden truths, and unspeakable pain.  I was riveted to the screen as the film unfolded, providing an unflinching look at events that changed the three mens' lives forever - and not all for the good.

The film also presses the issue of nature versus nurture.  All three men were raised in different households - one lower class, one middle class, and one upper class - yet all three seemed to share some similar traits, such as smoking the same brand of cigarettes or sitting the same way.  This seemed to push a nature narrative, yet the film also delves into the nurture path, exploring how these men were raised and what they learned from their respective families.  The movie doesn't set out to answer the question, but pose it as an important aspect into the mystery surrounding the triplets' adoption.  Without going into spoilers, I'll say that this is more than just a mere documentary, but something surprisingly tense, something I wasn't expecting.

The Summary:
Profound, poignant, powerful and perplexing, "Three Identical Strangers" is more than just a happy reunion of triplets who never knew the others existed, but rather focused on a dark mystery with questionable motives, and no easy answers.

The Score: A+