Are we a product of our environments, our upbringings? Or are we held captive by our genes—simply a result of the genetic markers in our DNA? It’s one of the key questions of human existence, and the question that this documentary by Tim Wardle addresses…at least obliquely.

What if you found out you had a twin? Someone who looks exactly like you—same face, same eyes, same smile? Now imagine that you’re not just a twin, but that you’re one of a set of triplets? At 19 years old, Robert (Shafran), Eddie (Galland), and David (Kellman) found out that they were triplets who had been separated at birth and adopted by three different families. They made an immediate connection with each other, and became celebrities du jour, their story going viral before we really knew what viral was. Beyond the limelight, however, there were darker shadows. The parents, for example, were never told by the Louise Wise Adoption Agency—which specialized in adoptions for Jewish babies—that the boys were separated of birth. “We would have taken all three,” one of the adoptive parents says. In addition, as infants, the boys all seemed to have mysterious symptoms, as though suffering from some form of separation anxiety.

The film Has a Goodfellas vibe to it—we see how the triplets party, appear in a movie with Madonna, and even open a restaurant in NYC. They’re on the top of the world. But there are small hints here and there that all is not as wonderful as it seems.

Everything seems happy, until about a third of the way through, when an investigative journalist by the name of Lawrence Wright gets involved, and the film takes a dark turn, and begins to address fundamental questions about the morality of the adoptive process, child psychology, as well as the essential debate of nature vs. nurture. And then, just when you think it can’t get any darker, it does.  I can’t say too much about the direction the film takes without ruining things. But I can say that the revelation, if you don’t know it already, will shock and outrage you. And no matter how well-intentioned the motivations behind the involved parties are, there is no positive way to frame their actions, despite the cringe-inducing chuckles of those who try.

There is nothing particularly unique about the cinematography, and the presentation is fairly straightforward: family video footage and talking heads. It feels very much like an episode of dateline in that respect. But the story is engrossing, and heartbreaking, and will shake your notions of identity.

IMDB gives this a 7.7. As good as this is, and it is very much worth watching, I think that’s still a little high. I’d put it somewhere in the 6.5-7 range, depending on how much you enjoy documentaries. As with so many documentaries, it’s the story told rather than the presentation that is important here. (running time 1:36)