Three Identical Strangers promises an astonishing true story, and delivers. Three triplets with remarkably similar physical and personality traits manage to find each other in New York when they’re nineteen years old after being separated at birth and given to three different adoptive parents. The story became a national news sensation, with the three young men paraded on various talk shows and magazine covers. Robert Shafran, David Kellman and Edward Galland, strikingly alike in looks and comportment become rock stars in the niche news world, and their newfound brotherhood brings them a new feeling of acceptance and purpose. Of course, that wonderful feeling doesn’t last forever, as differences between them start to arise and the source of their original separation begins to come under scrutiny. There’s no use in exposing this documentary’s shocking twists, which exposes a true American tragedy that implicates several parties. I’m not sure this isn’t basically a 20/20 news package playing in theaters, but its story is joyous and heartbreaking in equal measure, a testament to the power of families both biological and not.

 

Directed by Tim Wardle