4 stars out of 5
Donald Trump will likely not be seeing this documentary, because it was produced by CNN Films. (“Fake movies!”) But many of the rest of you will find this fascinating.
No big spoilers here. When I watched the trailer, I stopped it when a woman says, “That’s when things got really funky.” But the set-up is freaky enough. It’s 1980, a guy shows up at college, and everybody recognizes him though he’s never been there before. Turns out his identical brother, whom he had no idea existed, had attended the college the previous year. (Why was the current student first showing up as a sophomore? I don’t think the film answered this, and I found it distracting.)
The story gets news coverage. Somebody sees a photo in the newspaper and, hey, they look exactly like a buddy of theirs. So, three identical brothers separated at birth by adoption. Then there’s a media frenzy. Everybody loves the story and loves the boys and they love each other. They’re the toast of New York City, partying nonstop, appearing on every talk show, eventually opening a restaurant called Triplets.
This first half of the movie is so frothy and fun and funny. I was laughing and clapping my hands. They’re suburban New York Jews, so I felt like I knew these guys, and the wild enthusiasm of their reunion is positively infectious. Many clips and photos from the 1980s and early 1990s add to the goofy charm.
But then things really get funky. And pretty dark. So I’m not going to get into any of that, as it would ruin the movie for you. I will say that the film deals with some serious topics: nature vs. nurture, family dynamics, mental health, class differences, etc. The director skillfully parcels out details to build the mystery, using flashbacks (not real common in documentaries) as reinforcement. And we also see, not that we need another reminder, that solid, serious journalism is so very important to society. Of course, the one guy who needs that reminder probably isn’t going to watch the movie.
(mild spoiler alert) In my field of public health, there are so many twins-separated-at-birth studies. Not recent studies, but in the textbooks, stuff you learn in the core curriculum. I always wondered about these – twins aren’t too common, adoption isn’t too common. Plus if you are able to compare them, that means you are consciously tracking them from the start. I suspect there are many more stories like this out there, some maybe in plain sight.