In 1980, two adopted boys who were separated at birth discovered they were brothers. The discovery was a fluke. One brother, Eddie Galland, had attended a community college but did not return the following year. Coincidentally, Robert Shafran began school the following year. Shafran was shocked at how friendly the students were when he arrived on campus. In fact, some of the girls planted big kisses on his lips. It was all a bit surreal until someone called him "Eddie." His arrival on campus created a buzz. He was soon joined by another student who was Eddie's best friend. When the friends asked if his birthday was July 12 (which it was) it became apparent that the boys were twins separated at birth.
But the boys were not twins. They were triplets. When news broke about the unlikely reunion, several newspaper articles featured the boys on the front page. Friends and family members of David Kellman quickly realized that David, who was also adopted, might be a third brother. When news spread that these triplets had located each other, the story went viral. The boys were minor celebrities in New York and were featured in magazines and on television, to include the Phil Donahue Show. What appeared to be a happy reunion had a much darker undercurrent that belied the fairy tale ending preferred by the press. The separation was not as innocent as originally believed. The story becomes tangled and complex as the story unravels. I will delve into some elements of the story without revealing all of the secrets. There may be some minor spoilers ahead.
Three Identical Strangers becomes an indictment on intelligentsia and academia. The truth behind this story is the type of insidious manipulation that makes for good suspense films. Only this was a true story. Director Tim Wardle manages to get a couple of researchers to commit to interviews for the film. The interviews were kind of chilling to me. They revealed an odd "end justifies the means" approach that seemed to lack common empathy or remorse. One academic admitted some culpability while maintaining a somewhat sterile distance from the reality of what was done and why. Luckily, this academic sheds some light on the pseudo-scientific elements of the story. Another claims ignorance, brags about her relationships with folks like Michelle and Barack Obama, while clinging to a weak defense of her actions. Her duplicity includes a claim that her research has been monumental while pretending not to know what the outcomes were. If I had been conducting the interview, I would have called her a liar and pressed her more on what she knows. The entire story is a complex puzzle buried in extreme secrecy and protected to this day by academia (Yale University).
Three Identical Strangers is a compelling story. The documentary uses a combination of interviews and re-enactments to piece together an intriguing story. The combination is a bit odd, yet it was effective. The story itself builds much in the way the realizations unfolded in real life. The story begins with happy reunions, fame, success and slowly digresses toward dysfunction, unfortunate events and an ever-increasing complexity. The film manages to eke out enough of the truth to allow viewers to feel a bit satisfied as they ponder the big picture, the questions that this story poses and the ultimate outcomes. This is not a feel-good documentary. But it is gripping and compelling.
I would like to delve deeper into the circumstances that surface in this documentary, but part of the beauty of this story was the way the film picks away at the edges to unravel an intriguing mystery. As the film provides new revelations, earlier elements of the film begin to make greater sense. We are given a taste of the story in much the same way it was revealed. I don't want to give away the dark underbelly of this film, so I have decided to speak in broad terms and allow viewers to learn the truth on their own. The storytelling elements of this documentary made it exceptional. I strongly recommend this movie. 8/10.
