After telling about the triplets' recognition, the film continues to track the whole story in two lines: one line goes on to tell the later life of the triplets, using the TV clips and home videos of the year to tell the audience that the triplets appeared on many programs, Become a little famous, start a family and start a business together - open a restaurant called "triplets".
Another line traces the various doubts behind the triplets' origins. The highlight is that the separate parenting of the triplets was artificially arranged by the researchers in cooperation with the adoption agency for academic observation (the two brothers who appeared on the screen mentioned that they have been regularly tested, asked questions, and videotaped since they were young).
Serious spoilers below~
Three professionals came out one after another to sort out the information they gave:
1. As an investigative reporter, he learned that Professor Neubauer of psychoanalysis once conducted a study: arrange identical twins/multiple babies to be raised by different families at birth, and study the growth of these children.
2. Neubauer's female research assistant (?) at that time, she mentioned that Professor Neubauer's research idea is to get the exact answer of nature or nurture through observation. The old man said meaningfully that the power of nature is extremely strong, and the similarities between the children (although they grew up in different families) are far beyond imagination. This means that no matter how strong your free will is, you can't change your genetics.
At this time, the line of reality and the line of doubt in the film meet: the three brothers have a growing feud due to business problems, Poppy quits, and Eddie commits suicide after a mental illness. The film also mentions that the three brothers and their biological mother have suffered from mental problems, so it is speculated whether the study is designed to explore whether mental illness is hereditary? Then back to the line of doubt.
3. The assistant who actually participated in the study denied the above speculation, saying that the purpose of the study was to observe the impact of parenting practices on children. Then came a big news: the triplets each have sisters, and they are all adopted. The researchers placed the adopted sisters in each family in advance → learned about the different parenting styles of the three pairs of adoptive parents → then placed the triplets in the three families → the researchers artificially selected a pair of parents for each of the three brothers →In this way, the purpose of controlling variables and researching dependent variables can be achieved.
It's really heartbreaking to watch.
Today, this research is a serious violation of academic ethics. This is also the consensus of the people interviewed in the film. For the triplets, they and their adoptive parents were unknowingly the subjects, and the researchers observed their lives like guinea pigs. The triplets might never have known they had two other twin brothers for the rest of their lives had it not been for a chance discovery when Poppy was a freshman.
What's even more creepy is that the researchers played God without hesitation in the process, choosing their own adoptive parents for the triplets, so in turn, can the researchers be asked to account for the harm the adoptive parents caused to their adopted children? responsible? For example, at the end of the film, it is mentioned that Eddie has a bad relationship with his adoptive father, and implies that this is very likely an important reason for Eddie's suicide.
When Eddie committed suicide in middle age, wouldn’t the audience ask, the research team knew that Eddie’s adoptive father was extremely strict and indifferent to his children, so why did they put Eddie in his house to be the unlucky child? When I was playing this big game, I didn't even think about being responsible for the future.
For a long time, being a child is always a bit wronged, and we can't choose our own parents and origins. We can accept what kind of fate we are born into in what kind of family. This documentary provides a new perspective for thinking: someone chose different parents and different backgrounds for the three children, which indirectly determined their respective fates. This is different from the normal adoption situation, because the researcher already knows the parenting style and family atmosphere of each family in advance, and has actually designed the child's future growth environment in advance.
Under such circumstances, the three brothers inevitably felt unfair. Don't forget that when David first got to know the other two brothers, he thought, this SOB is probably driving a Benz! He's got a doctor! 19-year-old David thinks that Poppy's dad is a doctor and my dad is a blue-collar worker, which is unfair . It wasn't until middle-aged David that he realized that his father was generous and amiable. Compared with Bobby's busy father and Eddie's indifference, his father was actually the best. It's a pity Poppy and Eddie didn't have to choose their father's character at all, wouldn't they feel unfair?
I feel a little frustrated writing this. No matter how the hand of God of the research team chooses for the three brothers, it is impossible for them to be satisfied. And they also have a concrete object of hatred - researchers. Ordinary people complain about their parents, but they also know that they cannot change, so the only way to go is to work hard and learn to let go.
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