Reality Movies (38)

July 22nd
Nature or Nurture. This was the theme of a movie we went to see last night with Jacki and Harold. "Three Identical Strangers" was more documentary than scripted, and as the second documentary/full featured film we saw this summer, it hit me that reality TV has hit the big screen. I guess people are more interested in seeing real people. At first, I found it humorous to see imperfect teeth, lines and expressions on faces formed by a life lived, not by an acting school, Long Island accents, and completely natural bodies on the screen. We all like to look at actors as if we are looking in a mirror. I will never be Julia Roberts or have the voice of Lady Gaga, even if these women dare to come on screen with no makeup or scraggly hair, pretending to be me.

This movie brought us the story of real-life triplets separated at birth for a scientific study of nature vs. nurture. The study came out of a Jewish adoption organization in New York and manipulated many sets of twins and these triplets for their own conclusions. That is sad. I remember how hard it was to split up Bab's family of puppies. She mourned the loss of each pup and it was just as hard on the puppies to be separated. These three men were told stories of how they banged their head on the crib after being torn away from their brothers. One brother committed suicide later in life and the other two have to face life knowing that they were the subject of a study with no real conclusion. Their lives were manipulated. Even the adoptive parents said if they knew there were triplets, they would have taken all three babies to keep them together. These families and these boys suffered needlessly in the name of science. I left the theatre feeling quiet and uneasy. My only comment to Jacki was why did it have to be a Jewish organization that was at the root of this story. Real life is not always a pleasure to live through on the big screen. Perhaps we go to the movies because we want to pretend we have perfect faces, perfect bodies, lovely voices, and happy endings. For the price of admission and 2 hours of my time, I want to escape and dream a little. I can deal with my own real life and real struggles the rest of the time.