Three Identical Strangers
The 2018 documentary film directed by Tim Wardle brings out the lives of Eddy Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran, triplets who were separated at birth and given out for adoption in different families. The film gets interesting as the three boys reunite in their college years, and it gets even more catchy watching the trio attend interviews and making merry together. The most intriguing part rests on their similarities, not only on their identity but also on their ways of doing things. At this point, the documentary gets humorous and entertaining as the trio rises to fame. However, the joy is short-lived as the hidden truth regarding the triplets unfolds gradually. It is a story of nature versus nurture, identity, origins, and loss.
Louise Wise Agency, a center for adoption, was working in collaboration with a psychiatrist, Dr. Peter B. Neubauer, who was researching to unravel the enigma on nature versus nurture. The agency would intentionally separate multiple birth siblings and give them out for adoption in different families with different socio-economic statuses to research them. The rationale deployed in the research gives rise to several unethical considerations made by the researchers and the agency during the study.
One’s origin and family roots are such vital aspects of their lives that they deserve real information about them. The fact that separation was at birth, moreover, the agency never attempted to inform them that they had biological siblings even later when they were grown and could understand was very inhumane (Hoffman & Oppenheim, 2019). Here, they violated the children’s nature. The documentary depicts the resemblance in the triplets ranging from the way they talk, their ideologies on different things, and even their appearance. The similarities extended to the struggles with mental illness as they all at one point would bang their heads, fall into depression, experience anxiety. As a result, they all resolved to visit psychiatrists in their teen years. Although their biological mother was incapable of raising them, the agency ought to have responsibly placed them in the same home for adoption, which would have minimized the challenges in their nature. The brothers also shared the trauma they experienced growing up with that pivotal aspect of their lives concealed from them.
The adoptive parents received misleading information that the research was on adopted children, whereas the truth was that it was on multiple birth siblings separated at birth. In the documentary, the researchers kept on visiting the adoptive families, conducting tests, and recording videos of the children. In ethical research, the agency should have provided foster families with the option of adopting the triplets together to avoid separating them.
The agency messed up with the nurturing aspect, which is crucial in the children’s development. The triplets experienced different parenting, which later bears effects on their approaches towards life (Levin, 2019). Analyzing the paternal relationships, Eddy had a rocky relationship with his dad as they always collided, David’s father was often tied down by his work at the hospital hence unavailable. In contrast, Bob had the best relationship with his father, who was always bubbly and warm. Eddy’s strained relationship must have played a role in his adult life as he resulted in depression and finally shot himself at 33 years.
To some extent, nature influences a child’s behavior and health, and the mode of nurturing too comes in handy (Keating, 2010). Messing up with the triplets’ nature and nurture created a significant difference amidst the many similarities they shared. In conclusion, both nature and nurture play crucial roles in spelling out the outcomes of one’s life.
References
Hoffman, L., & Oppenheim, L. (2019). Three identical strangers and the twinning reaction—clarifying history and lessons for today from Peter Neubauer’s twins’ study. Jama, 322(1), 10-12.
Keating, D. P. (Ed.). (2010). Nature and nurture in early child development. Cambridge University Press.
Levin, E. (2019). Watching the Documentary Film” Three Identical Strangers.” International Journal of Prenatal and Life Sciences DOI: 10.24946/IJPLS, 3(3), 5.