Skip to footer

'Three Identical Strangers' is a true story that could only be believed because it actually happened

( PG-13 ) ( Monitor Movie Guide )

In 1980, through sheer coincidence, 19-year-olds Robert Shafran and Eddy Galland discovered they are identical twins separated at birth. When their story was trumpeted in the media, 19-year-old David Kellman saw the photos and realized he was their triplet.

|
Courtesy of Neon
Eddy, David, Bobby in 'Three Identical Strangers.'
  • By Peter Rainer Film critic

I sincerely hope that no one tries to dramatize Tim Wardle’s documentary “Three Identical Strangers” as a fictional film. It’s a true story that could only be believed because it actually happened. In 1980, through sheer coincidence, 19-year-olds Robert Shafran and Eddy Galland discovered they are identical twins separated at birth. When their story was trumpeted in the media, 19-year-old David Kellman saw the photos and realized he was their triplet. All three boys had been adopted from the same agency by separate pairs of parents who knew nothing of the babies’ circumstances.

To reveal much more than this would spoil the experience, but suffice to say this is a movie that begins like a News of the Weird anecdote and turns increasingly dark. It brings the nature versus nurture debate into shattering focus. Grade: B+ (Rated PG-13 for some mature thematic material.)

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to 'Three Identical Strangers' is a true story that could only be believed because it actually happened
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Movies/2018/0629/Three-Identical-Strangers-is-a-true-story-that-could-only-be-believed-because-it-actually-happened
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe