There are multiple good horror films to binge-watch at the weekend. But, how about a horror film with an unheard concept based on real-life events. Do you know during the 70s and 80s there was a doctor who used his sperm on several of his patients? He was a fertility specialist Dr. Donald Cline who did this insemination without informing them or taking any kind of permission for it. He continued this for the next two decades and ended up having 94 children. Crazy right? This is exactly what Our Father, an American Netflix original documentary film is all about. It was released on 11th May 2022. Some praised the film while others felt it could have been better.
This 97 minutes film directed by Lucie Jourdan is a unique watch from the romantic and drama content loved ones on Netflix. Since it’s a documentary film, there are interviews with the parents and children affected by the incident. Some of them set out to trace and find out about their possible siblings and know the truth. For this, they have the biological percentage concept because one might not know whether people they know too turn out to be their siblings.
Also, the film explores their anger as Dr. Cline does not give any justification or any answer in the court of law. An important question raised in the film is the absence of any legal norm or law to prove this act a crime and give punishment to the accused. No law gives control to people over their reproductive system which is a matter of concern.
Our Father Release Date
Our Father threw light on an important and ignored the issue. This film was released on 11 May 2022 and you can watch it. Its trailer was released on April 14, 2022, which was a shocking reveal for the incident as many people have been unknown about it.
Our Father Cast
Our father is a documentary film, so it has the interviews of half-siblings and their parents impacted by the incident. Actors recreated the scenes but the audio of Dr. Cline is real from his interviews. So, the cast of our Father includes:
- Donald Cline As Self – Fertility Doctor
- Simone-Élise Girard As Mother
- Leslie Koch Foumberg As Judge Helen Marchal
- Keith Boyle As Donald Cline
- Jacoba Ballard As Self
- Lea Roman As Tracy Betz
- Islam Moawad
- Dianna Kiesler As Self – Julie’s Mother
- Jason Hyatt As Self
- Matt White As Self
- Liz White As Self – Matt’s Mother
- Angela Ganote As Self
- Heather Woock As Self
- Julie Harmon As Self
- Carrie Nungester As Self
Our Father Plot
The story begins with Jacoba Ballard when she takes a DNA test at home. She is shocked to know that she has seven more half-siblings that have turned her life upside down. Jacoba gets more curious and she wants to find out the complete truth and details behind this thing so she meets her new relatives and tries to solve the mystery and know the reason for their relationship. Things become more complex and shocking when they know that this happening is a result of trust by their parents in a renowned doctor who is highly respected in society. The number of siblings identified by the DNA database keeps on increasing and rises to 90+.
Also, it gets equally difficult to inform the newfound siblings about the truth that can be life-changing for them too. As Dr. Cline kept practicing till 2009, he got a chance for insemination into countless women which means the total number could be much more. There is no surety as to why Dr. Cline did this, but there are some indications that it might be due to some extremist religious ideologies. The main highlight of the film is the difficulty to get the doctor behind the bars for what he did to countless parents.
When the siblings and their parents come together, find out the truth and try to get punishment for Dr. Cline in the court of law, he has retired and is living in Indiana. They make several attempts to contact the authorities in Indiana about the incident that is liable under rape punishment, the slow investigation lets them down. Dr. Cline has gained a lot of prominence as a doctor and is an elder of his church.
When the siblings level up allegations against the doctor, suddenly all their proof and research are wiped out leaving without evidence against him. It tries to give out a lesser-known message on how there is a lack of laws in the legal system to level up charges against a person who violated a person’s right on their body with the control of their reproductive system. But, we can say that this film does succeed in getting focus on the issue and highlighting the problem.
Our Father Spoilers
In our Father, you will get to see how a woman (Jacoba Ballard) exposes and throws a spotlight on Dr. Cline’s deeds that would have otherwise gone unnoticed. She thought she was adopted when she took a DNA test at home. Consequently, her mother shared that she was born after an infertility treatment through a donor sample.
She conducted online research to find out more by Independent DNA testing to check for any possible siblings. Her mother said that a donor can be only used 3 times and she shockingly found 10 siblings and then more. The count could be more than the ones reported. This real-life horror has another instance where women are abused and the mental health of the people involved is seriously affected.
Where to Watch Our Father?
Our father is produced by Jason Blum and the Music is given by Gregory Tripi. You can watch this recently released American documentary film on Netflix. Also, its trailer is available online. As of now, there is no information on whether this film is available on any other platform. But, keep following the latest series to get new information and updates about our Father (2022).
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