The Findings Won’t Be Released Until 2066

As it turns out, the data that Dr. Peter Neubauer’s team collected was never released. After the documentary was released, the study’s participants were finally able to see some of the study’s information, regardless of how edited it was.

Source: Science 101

Neubauer passed away in 2008, and his research data is sitting in boxes at Yale University. He gave official instructions that it should be sealed until 2066. His idea was that all the participants would no longer be alive by that time.

So why don’t the brothers take legal action? Well, they did, but …

No Lawsuit… Yet

When the brothers learned about the study, they consulted a lawyer but were told that the statute of limitations might be an issue in the case. The statute of limitations can prevent former study subjects from taking legal action against the Jewish Board.

Source: Entertainment Daily

Therefore, a lawsuit hasn’t been filed. Bobby found it ludicrous, saying: “It’s not like someone left a scalpel in someone’s belly button. How many cases like this do you have to compare it to? What they did to us wasn’t a question of law. These people were entrusted with God-like power and decisions.”

The documentary ‘Three Identical Strangers,’ as fascinating as it is, still has many unknowns…

Gaining Access to the Study Records

As they were making the documentary, the team helped the brothers fight for access to the study’s records. “We were driven by the injustice on behalf of the brothers,” director Wardle stated. “(Producer) Becky (Read) spent nine months working with the brothers to access the material … files and footage that should rightfully be theirs.”

Photo by Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images for SCAD

After months in pursuit, the brothers got their hands on about 11,000 pages of records – information that hadn’t been seen in decades. But it wasn’t all seen in the film. Why? Because it was released after the film was finished.

Personal Stuff

“There’s a huge amount of personal stuff in those records that are private for a reason,” the producer said. “To access their records for the first time in years … that, I think, has been an accomplishment to them. To have some sense of ownership of this after having no control for many years over how their lives were orchestrated.”

Source: Channel 24

In the documentary, the brothers talk openly about what it was like to be studied, seemingly unaware that those tests they were given were not part of a regular child development study.

And some of those tests were filmed…

Camera Rolling…

“I remember from a very young age, people would come to the house, usually a young man and a young woman, and they had me taking tests,” David says in the documentary. “I remember the filming more than anything else. … Every single time they came, they filmed.”

Source: Film Inquiry

When the brothers finally got access to the study’s records, they found hours of video from those childhood home visits. “The footage is like a time capsule, measuring these boys’ lives kind of year by year,” director Wardle said. “I think for the brothers, watching the footage for the first time was an incredibly emotional experience. … They’re seeing their whole childhood play out.”

A Major Challenge

Wardle and the filmmaking team knew from the get-go that telling this story was going to be a challenge. They had to first earn the trust of the brothers, and then they had to go and track down the truth about a study that was so deeply buried that other projects were even shut down.

Source: Direct Expose

“People had tried to tell this story before; we learned of at least three attempts by major US networks, two in the ’80s and one in the ’90s,” Wardle claimed. “In each case, we spoke to people who’d been involved in those projects, and they told us they got a long way through getting it ready to go … and it had been pulled at the last minute by people higher up.”