Jacqueline Pantano
Equinox Staff
Three twin brothers were separated at birth. Each one was adopted by a different family.
Each family part of a different social-economic class. David was adopted by a blue-collar family, Eddy by a middle-class family and Robert by an upper-class family.
The triplets meet for the first time at 19 years old.
They instantly became inseparable. They became a worldwide sensation. Everybody loved them.
Everybody wanted to meet them. However, what appears to be a joyful reunion of three charming triplets now inseparable friends, exciting to the public for its coincidental nature, happy ending and lovable protagonists, hides dark, controversial secrets.
Three Identical Strangers is a documentary unfolding and questioning those secrets. Questions will be asked and answered through a journey across these triplets’ lives.
2018 Sundance Film Festival award winner for the U.S. Documentary Special Jury Award for Storytelling, with a 97% approval rating based on 116 reviews on the site aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and with an 81 score out of 100 based on 28 critics on Metacritic, Three Identical Strangers by Director Tim Wardle is a critically acclaimed film.
Three Identical Strangers engages the viewer successfully by kindling questions such as, why have these twins been separated?
Is it a coincidence that each one was adopted by one of the three basic social-economic classes that make Western society?
Has their separation affected them? Who are their birth parents? The truth is not pleasant. Three Identical Strangers is a documentary on what seems to be a conspiracy theory but isn’t actually a conspiracy theory.
The questions, that as a viewer, you will probably ask yourself, throughout the viewing of the film, will all be valid and treated as such by the filmmaker behind this interesting and amusing documentary.
Trust your instinct. Something feels fishy and it undoubtedly is.
Pictures of the twins growing up, modern-day interviews of the twins throughout the whole film, some reenacted moments of their lives, such as their first encounter, with a voice-over of the twins recounting these events and footage of their television interviews during their time in the spotlight, take the audience on this trip of discovery.
Discovery of how events, experiences and traumas affected these triplets. You will find out who they are and why.
Three Identical Strangers is capturing because of the uncontrollable desire to find out more about these triplets and their past, moving because you empathize with the twins.
Eddy, Robert and David are all presented as likable, pleasant, endearing characters. It is not hard to feel with them and for them.
Controversial secrets, hidden mysteries shadowed by a pleasant, merry looking scenario, keep the audience hooked. Lovable and charming characters engage the audience emotionally.
The denial must be broken; our instinct must be satisfied, and we must see justice for the characters we now care about.
Three Identical Strangers is all that; a well-crafted mystery documentary with endearing characters.
Jacqueline Pantano can be contacted at
jpantano@kscequinox.com
