Three Identical Strangers (2018)

Smith’s Verdict: ****

Reviewed by Tanner Smith

Sometimes, truth is stranger than fiction. Just read this next paragraph and decide for yourself if you think it’s a true story or something Hollywood would have rejected on the spot:

A community-college freshman is recognized by strangers on campus, even though he has no idea who they think he is. Someone asks him questions, and it turns out he shares the same birthday, the same adoption agency, and of course the same physical features (such as meaty hands) as his friend, to whom he takes to visit. It turns out these two are identical twin brothers who meet each other for the first time at age 19. When the story reaches the news, who should happen upon it but ANOTHER BROTHER?? Yep—it turns out there were triplets who were separated at birth. (There were actually quadruplets, but the fourth brother died at birth.) After having finally discovered one another by chance, they become close friends. But that’s not all. It turns out the triplets’ separation was part of an experiment brought on the adoption agency to try on a “nature-versus-nurture” study, by placing the three infants with families at different economic levels—one wealthy, one middle-class, one blue-collar…

It’s a story so unbelievable it HAS to be true. And upon watching the first few minutes of Tim Wardle’s “Three Identical Strangers,” a gripping, unbelievably riveting documentary that tells the triplets’ story, I was blown away by the fact that this wasn’t written for the screen. As the film continued, I was even more impressed to learn more about where they came from and why all of this was done to/for them.

I should just stop the review right here, because the less you know about “Three Identical Strangers” going in, the better. And while I don’t want to give away much of what we learn from this wonderful documentary, I will say what I took away from it in the end: the importance of loving, sensitive parenting, no matter what economic class these people were raised in.

“Three Identical Strangers” captures that meaning brilliantly. At times, it’s very funny the way many of these things worked out. Other times, it’s infuriating when you think about the people who tried to play God with these infants. And the rest of the time, it’s bitterly tragic, especially in the case of the depression all three of the triplets go through, particularly one named Eddy, and the direction that takes. But it also makes you think about what would have happened to you if you had been raised differently or if your own siblings had been raised differently. All that matters in the end is nature and the kind of parenting that’s important in everyone’s life.

I loved “Three Identical Strangers” so much. It’s wonderfully made, has numerous twists and turns that kept me invested, contained memorable characters in real-life people, and also might have provoked more discussion than any other film I’ve seen all year. (And yes, that includes “The Tale” and “Leave No Trace.”) It’s a compelling, fascinating documentary that will definitely be ranked high on my best-films-of-2018 list.