They are literally the same person, on a biological level, made of the same matter, arranged in the same way. They found each other by chance 18 years later when, on his first day at … Click here to become a patron via Patreon. Yes, there are things that are genetically hardwired into you, and they do make a difference in terms of who you are, but they aren’t the whole story. But the children’s experiences in different families also revealed something most parents know to be true—that parenting styles make a difference. Natasha Josephowitz, a former research assistant for Dr. Neubauer, told filmmakers that at the time when the research was being done in the ‘80s, it “did not seem to be bad… it was a very exciting time.” Later in the documentary, however, Josephowitz’s words betrayed an underlying sense that it was unethical. This post contains spoilers and this movie should not be … Charlottesville, VA 22902. © Devin Faraci and Cinema Sangha, 2019. Adoptees and their parents often wonder where the adoptee’s traits come from - their birth family or their adoptive family? What are some similarities and differences among the “three identical strangers”? These are your conditioned responses to things, the ways that your mind reacts to what it perceives and senses. After all, they have identical brains, yet they don’t have identical fates. Are you created by the sum of your genes? I think it’s nature AND nurture, and that pitting the two against each other is a classic Western bit of dualistic thinking. Three Identical Strangers begins with a set-up that could come straight from a horror movie and ends with a revelation from the most paranoid conspiracy thrillers. Kind of … After the tragedy, the surviving brothers couldn’t help but see differences in how they were raised and how it may have affected their life choices. Sign up for our mailing list to receive ongoing updates from IFS. “This is like Nazi sh*t,” another said, who, as a man of Jewish descent, did not choose those words lightly. That mystery is retold in the opening moments of the new movie Three Identical Strangers, and it gets more bizarre from there. “We found the ways that we were alike and we emphasized them, and we wanted to be alike,” he said. What they learned, slowly and over the years, stunned and shocked them all, and…. Showing all 3 items Jump to: Summaries (3) Summaries. The recently released documentary, Three Identical Strangers, tells a story that’s at times humorous, at times incredible, and at other times foreboding. This message came through the triplets’ entwined stories as a tragic turn of events unfolded. These three identical strangers took to each other, filling gaps in one another they didn’t even realize had been there. William Paley . Spoiler alert: Shafran learned he was one of a set of triplets who were separated soon after birth and placed with adoptive families — part of a study in which researchers explored the age-old question of how human beings are shaped by nature … But for these three it seemed to be the moment that set them free, that allowed them to be who they should have always been. Had they undertaken this task, which would have involved attempting to measure the effects of nature and nurture, they might have had to face how, for the numerous lives involved in their experiment, they actively damaged both. They were all placed in families with different economic and social status. Watching Three Identical Strangers ... And yet they end up quite different. But the question of how the three of them ended up separated, yet living within a hundred mile radius of one another, one in a working class home, one in a middle class home, and one in a wealthy home, tugged at their adoptive parents. The journey is fascinating, and the twists and turns will have you gasping – literally, people gasped in my theater when I saw it. Box 1502 Three Identical Strangers took British director Tim Wardle five years to complete. The recently released documentary, Three Identical Strangers, tells a story that’s at times humorous, at times incredible, and at other times foreboding. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER! Everyone wants to belong to a tribe; one can only imagine how powerful it must feel to find two other people who are immediate family; who have ties to you from before you knew; who literally reflect your likeness on their faces; and, who can give you a bear-hug as warm as your own, which you can all but imagine if you’ve ever seen photos of Eddy, David, and Bob together. They each have an older sister, who also was adopted. It is a great classroom tool for delving into the "nature vesus nurture" debate. Subjects: Biology, Critical Thinking, Psychology. In 1980 New York, three young men who were all adopted meet each other and find out they're triplets who were separated at birth. The film, directed by Tim Wardle and released across the United States in the past few weeks, tells a story some might remember from headlines in the 1980s: Three college-aged identical triplets—Eddy Galland, David Kellman, and Robert Shafran—each put up for adoption, learn they were separated at birth and are reunited. There are a great number of similarities between us as human beings, but there are also a great number of difference – and both aspects are important and worthy of celebration. After one of the brothers left their joint restaurant business, Eddy’s behavior became erratic and unpredictable, and he displayed manic-depressive symptoms. Needless separation from blood relatives, years of psychological testing the reasons for which were not disclosed—these also played into the nurture the boys experienced. Decades later in Three Identical Strangers, Shafran confirmed, accompanied by a smile that suggested that he was understating the case, that he and his brothers intentionally emphasized their similarities and downplayed their differences. Georges Cuvier. First, treating children like specimens is a dangerous business and will set them on a challenging life course. The age-old question of nature vs. nurture is at the heart of this compelling, moving, troubling documentary* of triplets born to a Jewish mother who were separated at birth (really at 6 months of age) in 1961, and placed with three different Jewish … (Courtesy of NEON) (Courtesy of NEON) Jan 17, 2019, 1:39 PM Your donation will be tax-deductible. How you experience things sensually informs who you are. Shafran, Kellman, and Galland were identical triplets born in 1961, each of whom were separated six months later when they were adopted by different families. STOP READING! Interested in learning more about the work of the Institute for Family Studies? The children’s mental-health challenges from being separated point toward the stubborn truth of how biological families are best kept together when possible. Identical twins may share the same DNA make up and grow up in the same household, yet they have very distinct personalities. Three Identical Strangers (2018) Plot. Three Identical Strangers: The triplets in the early days of their discovery of each other. Then there’s consciousness, which is a whole other pile of beans in Buddhism. The surreal, sad story behind the acclaimed new doc ‘Three Identical Strangers’ Bobby Shafran, left, David Kellman and Eddy Galland were separated at birth. Well, to say any more would be to rob you of the rich pleasures of, Anyway, you can see that within the Buddhist concept of the illusion of self we have nature and nurture already included. Yet the path to make “Three Identical Strangers,” and what happened after it was released, is almost as twisty as the film itself. Telling adoptive parents only that they were doing research on adopted children, not on biological siblings separated at birth, the Louise Wise agency facilitated years of research on Eddy, David, and Bob, by sending researchers on house visits. STOP RIGHT NOW! Three Identical Strangers offers an empathic view of multiple perspectives throughout the film, but the most salient are those that caution viewers away from intentionally and unnecessarily dividing biological family members. Setting aside the shocking twists, turns and injustices that become clear in the second half of Three Identical Strangers, the movie illustrates some of the most profound spiritual ideas possible. That means no soul, no consistent internal being. Well, to say any more would be to rob you of the rich pleasures of Three Identical Strangers, a documentary that begins like a lighthearted human interest piece and that takes a turn for the strange and disturbing. As a part of the experimentation, Louise Wise Services placed the three children in homes within a 100-mile radius of each other in families with a mom, dad, and older sister who had also previously been placed by the same adoption agency. The story clearly conveys how it never serves anyone well to unnecessarily mess with nature. Understanding the similarities and differences among people occupies psychologists, anthropologists, artists, doctors and, of course, many biologists. It’s nature and it’s nurture, and it’s also neither of those things because it’s existing beings continuously processing their existence, and being changed forever by it. The new documentary, Three Identical Strangers clearly conveys how it never serves anyone well to unnecessarily mess with nature. After all, if you could better understand the decisions that you made, you could make better decisions. After receiving brief psychiatric care, he returned home. Considering the children out there who still don’t know their origins, the former assistant exclaimed, “these people don’t know they were used this way; they will be so upset!” It was for this reason, however, that Josephowitz seemed comfortable with the idea of keeping the truth hidden instead of bringing it into the open. A trio of triplets offer a unique look at this question, as each of them was adopted out at six months, and they spent the first 19 years of their lives not knowing they had a sibling, let alone two who were identical at the DNA level. New York, 1980: three complete strangers accidentally discover that they are identical … Watching Three Identical Strangers I could see how the five aggregates came together to create the sense of self for each of these triplets, and it was exciting. We encourage members of the media interested in learning more about the people and projects behind the work of the Institute for Family Studies to get started by perusing our "Media Kit" materials. A person close to the triplets said in the film, Eddy’s relationship with his dad “couldn’t have been good...otherwise, we would have seen him, or Eddy would have talked about him.”. The triplets in Three Identical Strangers were typical in this regard, each making similar choices. Please mail support checks to the address below: The Institute for Family Studies Similarities found in identical twins despite being raised in different homes: personality, styles of thinking & relating abilities/intelligence test scores attitudes interests, tastes specific fears brain waves, heart rate. Is there a genetic destiny that exists beyond our control, that will send you down a path no matter the circumstance? The similarities in their lives before reunion tended towards the spooky, and it’s incredible to watch these reunited siblings display similar mannerisms just days or weeks after meeting each other for the first time. It allows you to look at a car and see a car, but it also keeps you from seeing all the component parts that make up a car. These are three boys who as infants slept together in the same crib. On the other hand, twins that may have been separated at birth, find that years later when they meet up for the first time that they have very similar character traits and experiences. We are both separate and integrally connected, completely different and completely the same. Then they were three, and there was an automatic bond. Quickly, the movie turns from a humorous run of interviews about how they first met, to a real-life Truman Show-type train wreck about three lives that were blindly orchestrated for the purposes of others’ social experiments. 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