Amid a hugely successful summer, 2018 has had three surprisingly successful documentaries features scattered in the shadows of the Hollywood blockbusters. All of them are still in theaters now, but it’s Three Identical Strangers making the biggest splash at the moment. The film has received praise from audiences and critics alike, boasting a 7.7 score on IMDB and a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.
It’s a bit difficult to talk about this film without divulging certain information which makes it worth watching, but I’m going to do my best. Unlike the other two big docs on the market right now, RBG and Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, this wasn’t a biopic. Billed as “the most amazing, incredible, remarkable true story ever told”, this is the story of triplets separated at birth only to find one another 19 years later. Robert Shafran, Eddy Galland and David Kellman discovered one another as adults and that aspect of the story is sure to warm some hearts. It’s actually a lot of fun watching them together and when the story hit national news in 1980, they became almost instantaneous celebrities.
Director Tim Wardle did a marvelous job changing the perspective. While the story of their reunion isn’t new, the documentary focuses on the psychological aspect of their relationship and the burden that accompanied it. Unlike most brothers, these three young men didn’t build conventional sibling bonds. Swept up in the unbelievable nature of it all, all the attention was placed on the ways in which the boys were similar and not the ways in which they were different. It was a whirlwind of excitement and sudden fame coupled with an unstoppable desire inside these young men to cultivate a relationship with their long lost kin.
Throughout the course of the film, we get to know these brothers through their interviews, archive footage and conversations with their friends and family. As if their story wasn’t interesting enough, the story as to how and why they were separated comes into full focus. Without giving too much away, the infant boys were adopted out by an agency to separate families. The agency didn’t disclose the boys were triplets to their adopted parents and the truth behind that comes to light in spectacular fashion.
Just as things begin to get weird, they get even stranger. During the course of the investigation, all the details regarding the circumstances surrounding their adoption come to light and bring even more questions to the table. As a result of this documentary’s success, many of the questions raised during the film are being answered or investigated currently. In the era of mystery docs on Netflix, this movie is right at home.
Recommendation: Do yourself a favor and go see this movie. There’s nothing else like it. Even though it’s been in the news lately, don’t investigate on your own and just let the documentary speak for itself. Once it’s over, you’ll have plenty of questions and can do all the digging you like.