When triplets become ‘Identical Strangers’

The riveting documentary "Three Identical Strangers" is playing at the Magic Lantern Theater. Following is my review of the film, which I wrote for Spokane Public Radio:

I once argued with a friend of a friend – you know the kind of person I mean – who took issue with what I had to say about reviewing film. I’d said that I wanted to know as little as possible before going into a screening so that the film could work on me the way the director intended.

She said that was ridiculous. That I should know as much as possible to be able to fully understand what I was watching.

I considered her point. And as with many things in life, the compromise that I’ve come to over the years is to find a middle ground. I find out just enough about a movie before I see it – but no more.

Of course, sometimes it doesn’t really matter. With a Melissa McCarthy comedy, for example, you pretty much know what you’re in for. But with a documentary such as “Three Identical Strangers,” you’re better off knowing just enough.

Partly that’s because the movie, directed by British filmmaker Tim Wardle, is based on a real-life story that first hit the news in 1990. So you may already be familiar with some of the story going in.

Here’s what it won’t hurt you to know: On his first day of college, New Yorker Bobby Shafran stepped onto his upstate campus and was greeted like a long-lost friend. Guys yelled hi, girls hugged him and everybody called him by name. Only it was the wrong name. They called him Eddy.

That same day, with the help of a new college acquaintance, Bobby met the guy he’d been mistaken for and discovered something incredible: He had a twin brother. And his twin’s name was Eddy Galland.

Of course, the story made news. But then things got even weirder. Because of the news stories, a third boy popped up: David Kellman. And now the boys were triplets.

Amazing, right? So much so that if it weren’t real life, someone would dismiss it as a screenwriter’s fantasy. But it did happen. And the boys became instant celebrities, appearing on TV talk show, scoring a walk-on appearance in Madonna’s movie “Desperately Seeking Susan,” even opening their own New York restaurant – a natural progression for three by-then, 20-something boys who were in love with having found their long-lost brothers.

Here, though, is where I have to be careful. Because all of this is only half the story. The rest of Wardle’s movie, which he slowly reveals as the socio-cultural mystery it incredibly is, involves two things:

One is the kind of pain that can come when a rush of infatuation gives way to the reality of actual experience, in this case when the twins discover that for all their physical likenesses, their personalities are distinctly different.

The other is the back story of their birth and the reasons for their separation, which touches on a larger story of a social-engineering experiment that has yet to be resolved.

The result, then, is a fascinating tale that reveals the truth behind the headlines – a truth you should now be fully prepared to learn.