Have you ever been told that you looked like a celebrity or a stranger on the street? Then you come to find that person is actually your twin. Samantha Futerman and Anais Bordier went through shell shock in the documentary “Twinsters.”
Found on Netflix, this a documentary called “Twinsters,” a true story about two complete strangers that live 5,500 miles apart and stumbled upon each other by watching a few videos on Youtube. They then found out that they were identical twin sisters. Both women were born in South Korea and brought to America and France to be adopted by their families. They lived completely different lives. Anais Bordier was raised by French parents and has no siblings. Samantha Futerman was raised by American parents and had two brothers. Anais had a friend that found videos of “her” and was impressed that she did these videos but she did not do them and looked more into them. They found Samantha Futerman, an aspiring actress, because she had a role on "21 and Over." After they first contacted each other, their journey was followed through the documentary as they first meet each other and their families.
One of Sam’s brothers brought up nature vs. nurture about the twins. He commented that Anais and Sam were raised completely different but have so many similarities that they fit into each other’s worlds perfectly. Another thing that I found interesting was the difference in adoption stories. Anais, raised in France was bullied because she was adopted. Samantha learned that Anais did not choose to be adopted and that she had a harder time. When Anais was at the park, kids used to say “you do not look like your family” and “you were given up because your family doesn’t love you.” Samantha, raised in America, did not feel that way about adoption because her community was more accepting and felt no different, as I did growing up.
Being adopted myself, I have always thought of the possibility of having an identical twin sister or a fraternal twin brother. I mean, the possibility is out there for myself because I was left in a graveyard until a police officer found me and took me to an orphanage. As far as I know, they have no record of my parents or any health records on file. The hope of thinking that there could be another one of me living a very different life and we could be the same person is incredible and a possibility. I have my own ideals of how to change the world and maybe I have a twin that has his/her own and different ideals of changing the world. My dream is their reality.
But really, who has not thought about having an identical twin? Having someone else who looks exactly like you, acts similar to you and is a go to friend. Even if you had a fraternal twin, then you still have a go to friend, someone that looks like you and has the same birthday. Unless you already have a twin, then you already know how it is and the reality is not ideal.
The twins portrayed on television always had something to do. "Suite Life of Zach and Cody" were always bugging the hotel staff and had something up their sleeve to keep them entertained. Mary-Kate and Ashley always had the best vacations like "Winning London" and "Passport to Paris" that included some mischief. I know that I wanted to be like them and have a twin because they had the most fun and always had someone by their side.
This is a relationship that is always imagined yet at the same time could be right under my nose. It's hard to think that there is another “me” out there, but watching this documentary has put into perspective for not only me but lots of people. It is not unheard of that twins have a special kind of bond; this bond, as I have now seen, is very true. Not growing up together or even knowing one another, Samantha and Anais were able to still find each other, keeping the idea alive that family really is forever.
