Three Identical Strangers (2018)

[Yokosmom]

Just saw this today. I found it very moving and sad. I’ve read a lot about physician/psychiatric experiments, and until fairly recently patient consent wasn’t even viewed as an ethical concern. There is a reason why the standards are so high now. The fact that the Dr. was a holocaust survivor and was conducting a twin experiment brought up uncomfortable comparisons. At any rate, every time the film started getting a little repetitive, another holy shit revelation came out. It didn’t answer my main question, which is what is the current relationship between the two surviving brother? Are they distant? No contact? Still in each other’s lives?

Also liked the contrasting “Genetics is fate!” And “Nurture is important—you are the master of your own life” points of view.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

Three Identical Strangers to be adapted into a feature film

8 hours ago, Yokosmom said:

I’ve read a lot about physician/psychiatric experiments, and until fairly recently patient consent wasn’t even viewed as an ethical concern. There is a reason why the standards are so high now.

I work at a university and everyone who comes into contact with human subjects is required to do an annual training about the history of why we have such strict rules about requiring consent to participate in experiments. As is often the case, the regulations were created in response to people taking advantage of others. Vulnerable populations (minorities, prisoners, the poor) were often targeted and not told what was being done to them (more well known examples are the the Tuskegee syphilis experiment and Henrietta Lacks but there are countless other cases of the horrible things that were done to people).

8 hours ago, Yokosmom said:

It didn’t answer my main question, which is what is the current relationship between the two surviving brother? Are they distant? No contact? Still in each other’s lives?

Per this Vulture interview with the filmmaker:

Spoiler

The film seems to have brought them together, too. That’s what they say to us. They definitely weren’t talking much during the filming process. They had a very fractured relationship for a long time. And I’m sure there will still be ups and downs. But making this film was helpful to them, I think.

According to the Los Angeles Times:

Spoiler

Though their participation in the documentary has led to the stirring of painful memories, it has also led to tangible movement in the case. And it’s given the two brothers “a reason to spend more time together and work harder on our relationship,” said Kellman, who lives in New Jersey with his wife and two children and works as an insurance agent.

Edited July 22, 2018 by ElectricBoogaloo

[Yokosmom]

Thanks for the links and info, ElectricBoogaloo.

[Blergh]

I saw it and I have to admire the filmmakers for actually willing to respect the current privacy of the survivors. How their lives have been since the unthinkable tragedy happened is truly nobody else's business and they'd had precious little respect for privacy for much of their lives!

 

 Yes, quite a few ethical issues were raised but I don't want to get into that at this time. Anyway, as intriguing, infuriating and disturbing as the multilayered story was, I though the documentary did a good job at least touching upon said layers even if the subjects themselves have had to live with the aftermath their entire lives.

[blueray]

I just saw this yesterday. I knew some of the story, but I had no idea how dark it really was. That is really creepy that this agency did this study without telling anyone and leaving very little information about it. I didn't realize how much was involved with this. Anyhow, this is the kind of documentary where you can spend hours discussing. I would definitely recommend watching this to anyone.

[krankydoodle]

I'm glad I didn't read much about this movie before seeing it. I thought the filmmakers did a great job of gradually revealing details. Somehow, the one that stunned me the most was finding out that the brothers all being adopted into families with older, adopted sisters of about the same age was by design. The calculation and planning involved in the whole thing is hard to believe. There's so much to take in with this story that one of the brother's involvement (although it was apparently tangential) in a murder case was only briefly covered in a throwaway scene.

[stonehaven]

Easily one of the best documentaries I have seen. Gripping, sad and infuriating.

[enoughcats]

We borrowed a copy from our library and Mr.Ecats didn't think he knew anything about it.  Then the film clip came on with them on the Phil Donahue show and he remembered watching it when it was on and how astounded he was by the whole thing.
I really liked the first fifteen minutes.  They drew me into the story.

They appeared to be having all the fun in the world.  And then the documentary started getting real.  

It was probably the most memorable documentary I've seen (after Mondo Cane). I'll probably return to the queue to get it from the library again to see what I missed and how the story builds knowing the end.  (The comments at the end about what's happened since need a website updating them, probably.)

Must see.  

[enoughcats]

Tonight (1/27/2019) there will be three showings of Three Identical Strangers on CNN. 

[Frost]

This was fascinating and horrifying in .equal amounts.  That lady who was an assistant to the Dr is evil.  She thinks the whole thing is a hoot.  She still doesn't think of them as people.   I read an article that said the Dr had approached a different adoption agency as well and they refused to participate because "what God has put together, men should not pull apart" so the idea that secretly separately multiples and sending them off to different families didn't raise any ethical concerns at that time are nonsense.

The male assistant was a little better, but not much.  When he was reading through his notes and mentioned he didn't think the parents of the one triplet knew how to handle his emotional and mental health issues, he didn't say anything about recommendations he made for treatment or to improve the situation.  It was all observational.   Don't psychologists have a 'first, do no harm' oath like medical doctor's do?  

It truly is a story that would seem too outlandish as a movie plot - and it's real!

[Passing Strange]

15 hours ago, Frost said:

The male assistant was a little better, but not much.  When he was reading through his notes and mentioned he didn't think the parents of the one triplet knew how to handle his emotional and mental health issues, he didn't say anything about recommendations he made for treatment or to improve the situation.  It was all observational.   Don't psychologists have a 'first, do no harm' oath like medical doctor's do?

None of the mental health professionals were there to provide treatment. Their job was to observe and record. I doubt the assistant even thought of helping but, had he done so, he would have been considered out of line. I'm offering this as an explanation, not an excuse. Many things we used to take for granted horrify us now. We've done well with informed consent. There are other areas that still need a lot of work.

Medical doctors don't actually swear to first, do no harm.

[Jordan Baker]

I might have seen the triplets on the Donahue show way back when, and I remembered (after seeing the film clip) their small bit in "Desperately Seeking Susan," but I clearly only knew the feel-good part of their story. The history is so sad.

The thing that stood out the most for me was how two of the triplets mentioned that, according to their mothers, they'd bang their heads against the crib when they first came to live with their adoptive family. They knew something wasn't right. 

Oh, and the people at the adoption agency popping a cork after their meeting with the parents. Unbelievable.

[cpcathy]

The whole situation was so sad. I wondered for awhile why we weren't seeing Eddy speak in interviews, then I thought, "Uh ohhhhhhhhhh."

[Neurochick]

I watched this last night and it was just so sad.  Terrible what was done to these men, and even more frightening that there may be more people who don't even know they might have a twin.

I didn't think either of the research assistants were evil, because at that time, they probably didn't think what they were doing would cause any harm.  I went to school with a girl whose mother died of cancer (this was in the late 60's).  She never saw her mother in the hospital and came to school the day after her mother died, and she wasn't allowed to go to the funeral either.  The way of thinking was that kids can "get over things" easier.  Awful, but that's what people believed.  

The male research assistant said they were supposed to observe parenting styles.  It was probably a study of nature vs nurture.  It was interesting that all three of them had problems growing up, but I think it was David who said his relationship with his father and his family made all the difference; Bobby's father, a doctor, was busy but was involved in his son's life and Edward didn't have a close relationship with his father.  I would not be surprised if, when the study is finally uncovered, people will say, "So THIS is what all of that was for?"

I believe that a lot of unethical research went on in the past, but the question is, how much do we, right now benefit from that unethical research?  I often wonder about that.

[Apprentice79]

The whole situation is just tragic and sad. These kids were together from jump and it was very cruel to separate them like that. Human beings are the cruelest species on earth, it is amazing that we have remained at the top of the food chain for so long.  We have the ability to create unnecessary chaos for no reason. What was done to them was unconscionable. 

[Yokosmom]

I was glad to read that Bobby and David are much closer now (post documentary).  They weren't estranged, exactly, but rarely saw or talked to each other.

[knitorpurl]

I watched this in the theater when it was first released and was so affected by it. The way these people were 'handled' as it their lives were given over to the researchers was stunning.   

I was so intrigued I got the book written by the twin sisters that appeared in the doc that were part of the experiment, too. It is "Identical Strangers" by  Elyse Schein and Paula Bernstein. It adds more info and they even talked to the doctor and some others involved. If you want to know more I would highly recommend it.

Edited August 26, 2019 by knitorpurl
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