There's much archive footage of them appearing in TV chat shows, with present day interviews of friends and people who knew them both then and now, and talk with two of the triplets themselves.
It's a fascinating, disturbing and unique(?) tale, some aspects scarcely credible, and rivetting throughout in its search for the answer to the question 'Why did it happen?'
This is director Tim Wardle's first cinema-screen release, though not his first documentary. He puts the story together quite well in logical sequence though I did start getting the feeling of a few too many repetitions, not only of archive footage of both TV and domestic movie shooting (though I realise there'd be only a limited quantity available) but also in things that were said. Thus although the film is only 96 mins long I think there would have been no significant loss in having had it shorn by around 20 minutes. In fact it might have carried a greater punch by being slightly briefer.
A most interesting story which cries out to be better known - or maybe a lot of Americans in particular are already aware of it?..................6.
(IMDb.................7.8 / Rott.Toms................8.2 )
From the film I got the impression that the US would know all about this story but from the comments I received on my blog when I wrote about it it appeared that they didn't.
ReplyDeleteTwins' have also been traced who were involved in the research but the film said that it is likely that there are still some twins out there who know nothing about it and have not been reunited. I guess the boys in the film were the only set of triplets involved.
I thought the film was well made and easy to follow, which was important. The length of it probably was the outcome of making it clear and simple, and it tipped over into being slightly drawn out.
It shouldn't surprise me that many Americans don't know of this story. Even though I too must have seen and read about it at the time it clearly hadn't lasted long in my brain.
DeleteFor those unnamed twins who were in the same situation yet after all this time are still not aware that they have a twin sibling, it certainly is a sorry story.
Yes, the film did have the merit of keeping it simple, though only up to the moment of coming up against that 'wall'. I was starting to feel that to get the film up to a 'standard' length it was padded out a bit to its detriment.
I will watch this when it comes round to me as I have read both Rachel and your review. The only reason I didn't comment on Rachel's post was because I had read the reason why this was done and knew she didn't want to give away too much to people who may watch it. What I read was in the newspapers in the past and was shocking.
ReplyDeleteNo one can fail to be captivated and disturbed by the facts behind this tale, Carol, and the film will fill in any blanks, as far as it can, in admirable fashion.
DeleteI won't be watching it. I watched all those twins and siblings reunited series on TV for lack of something better to do. It was quite remarkable how often their lives had run in relatively parallel tracks even though they were separated at birth and one was in let's say Australia or Canada and the other one was in Edinburgh or Liverpool. I think there is an invisible thread connecting identical twins. And also between mothers and their progeny.
ReplyDeleteI saw Felice Lazzaro yesterday. You'll like it. I think Rachel said it comes to you in December.
March. Re. this film Ray is talking about Gwil, it is not a run of the mill twins reunited.
DeleteI've not heard of ''Felice Lazzaro', Gwil, but looking it up it reads as if it'll be worth looking out for.
DeleteIf you've had your fill of the triplets story, fair enough. I agree that probably the spookiest part of this particular tale is how the boys' histories and tastes up to their meeting for the first time had been so similar.
I've never heard this story but it sounds fascinating. I'll have to look for it.
ReplyDeleteSomething off the beaten track, Bob. Once you watch this it'll probably provoke after-thoughts for some time.
DeleteI also had no memory of this when it was news. I AM curious to see it.
ReplyDeleteIt's a strange event which deserves to be better known, Mitch, especially with all its implications.
DeleteNope, never heard of it, either. But to be honest, the '80s was my late teen, early 20s years. I'm not sure I was paying much attention to the news!
ReplyDeleteI've not got that excuse, Sadie, having been a news-junkie since about my mid-teens. Nonetheless, it's still a story that makes one think - and maybe feel some concern.
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