The filmmakers knew early on that Megan was not real. Then they travel all this way to find the imposter and when they finally get there, they don't digg very deep to discover the truth...
I think the only explanation Angela gave for her deeds was something very vague in the line of "you had access to things i did not have access too"...
This is the strangest documentary project I've ever seen. The flim-makers themselves are sort of creepy.
In the end, I do sympathize with Angela. The lot she has in life is horrific. She is a gifted artist, trapped in hell. The retarded twins she cares for daily, quite frankly make a strong case for euthanasia.
I guess my final take away is that Angela is really clever, and that the film-makers/photographers/whatever they are, are incredibly, annoying and pretentious in thinking they are any better.
I think Angela has more talent.
What baffles me is that the filmmakers neglected the most interesting part of the story: Angela's motives...
At first I thought she might end up trying to scam them and sell her paintings, but in the end maybe she just wanted to have a sort of fantasy world?
(She did tell Vince that Nev was her primary customer and bought paintings for a lot of money, but that might have been part of the fantasy instead of con job in progress...)
How can you say that those twins should be euthanized? They are living human beings, created in the image of God. If you watched the documentary, you know that they obviously have feelings and emotions. The fact that they can't really contribute to society does not mean they should be euthanized. Obviously Vince and Angela loved the twins or they would not even have taken care of them. They would have had them institutionalized. To euthanize Ronald and Anthony would be a selfish sin.
shareHaving them institutionalized is cost prohibative. The State no longer runs "institutions" for free. This is why we have so many homeless.
You and I probably disagree philosophically about this issue, so I won't have that debate. I believe it is an act of mercy to "pull the plug", for those who are in constant agony, and have no prospects for recovery. The term "euthanized" can have different meanings. In this case, it wouldn't involve any killing, it would be a matter of removal of life support to those who can't survive without it. One of the twins is in much worse shape than the other. He appears as though his life is a tortured existence. He has to be heavily medicated just to calm him down. His care is probably bankrupting the family. I believe he died not long after this film was shot. I'd be willing to bet the family withheld life support, and the hospice folks paid a visit. This is all done very discretely, but is essentially euthanization. The same thing is done with terminal cancer patients when they are is severe pain. They are administered a lethal dose of morphine, and they pass in peace and comfort.
I hope that if I'm ever in that condition, my family would do the same for me.
We only know what the filmmakers showed us. I feel you should refrain your judgment as to whether you think someone in a film should LIVE or DIE based on a snippet of their life. No one knows the twins real experiences, and while I'm not against euthanasia when it's deemed necessary, you nor I cannot make that call, and should not assume when you really don't know anything.
shareYou are correct, I don't know the exact details. But, from what we are shown, one can make an educated guess about the one twin who is particularily bad off. We can observe that his life is a quiet agony, and that he needs constant care to survive. Its almost as if he's in pain, and can't comminicate it to others. I can only imagine how terrible that must be. The fact that he passed not long after this documentary was completed raises suspicions.
We can also see that having to care for him 24/7 is a major burden in Angela's life, and part of the reason she acts out.
But, nonetheless, I should refrain from judging. Part of my point was to say that if I were ever in that position, I would hope that my family would do the merciful thing for me.
Who's High Pitch?
It was the other twin who died...the one that was able to walk, etc. At the end of the film it said "Anthony" died, and when that twin was walking up the stairs earlier with the pot in his hand, Angela said "Hi, Anthony".
I was surprised he passed before the other twin.
I know this is an old post but I just had to reply. Although I do agree with you about the boys being a strong case for euthanasia(i don't think it's fair for them to live like that), you can't deny that Angela is there by choice. Those are not her children and she chose to take them on, knowing that it would be until the day the die. She chose to marry a man who is slightly simple and she chose to take on his two handicapped kids. She is obviously not happy in her marriage and gets away with having online affairs because her husband lacks intelligence. It is possible to have a rewarding (yet obviously tiring) life looking after those two boys. She is not trapped though! The husband and kids don't deserve to be burdens and there are saner things to do about the situation than (the obviously mentally ill)Angela has done. Everyone in this situation deserves better. I think this whole family needs help and Angela is clearly not in any state to provide that care. Even when she was coming clean she was lying (about cancer, the daughter and the friends)and She obviously got her youngest child evolved in this. So she is either a extremely heartless or an extremely mentally ill human being. Going to the trouble she did is not a rational reaction and I don't think she was genuine for one second of the film.
shareCreepy? You clearly don't know what creepy means.
shareAngela knew her paintings would be even more impressive if someone thought an 8 year old painted them.
They do go into this a bit, in the conversation where Angela is drawing Nev. She talks about these alter egos as being tangents of her own personality. These imagined personalities are living out the experiences she never did in her own unfulfilled life. They leave it at that.
To say that "Angela knew her paintings would be even more impressive if someone thought an 8 year old painted them", is a far too simplistic explanation of Angela and her escapades.
I agree, it would have been interesting to have gone deeper into this. Angela is really the only compelling part of this piece.
Nev and his clan spend too much of the film on giving themselves "face" time and their need to play "gotcha" with Angela. They seemed impressed with themselves in their mission. I find them to be thouroughly uninteresting. I never would have watched the film if I weren't home sick on the couch. I'm glad I did though. The Angela saga made it worthwhile.
True.
I guess she needed something to make her life more exciting.
I dont know how to feel about this movie.
shareI really want to know why she originally chose Nev. Did she just like the picture she saw? Had she seen a picture of him and knew that he was attractive?
Did she do this with other photographers that didn't take the same bait?
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Here's my signature.
isn't freakin OBVIOUS that angela had a boring as hell life?, she wanted excitement, can you imagine how she felt all those times when she and nev sexted each other? yeah, like an 18 year old girl all over again
over time its clear that she really liked nev, almost in love with him i would say
all she wanted was to feel alive again, its really clear from the movie i think
Your post, unsophisticated, but very accurate. I haven't seen the movie, only the trailer, and I read about it on Wikipedia and some of the posts here. There are many people who enter their late 30s, or are well into their forties, with many regrets and frustrations about their lives. They look back and see the flower of their youth, 18 to 30, wasted by the decisions and choices they made and whatever luck, good, bad, and indifferent did to them. You often see this many times with married people, who have been married say, ten years or more. Please don't mistake me...I'm not saying all married people. Many if not most married couples lead happy, fulfilling, and satisfied married lives. But we too often hear the regrets of those in unhappy married lives, whether they still love their spouse or not. Many would yearn for a more lively, exciting life of the single-person, or the recently-married upper middle class jet set with no kids and no responsibilities yet. Your time and your pursuit of life's joys and fun are all yours to take. Angela feels trapped, hopelessly and despairingly, in a married life of monotonous routine and drugdery, taking care of handicapped twins that she'll be saddled with for life. Angela could not turn back the clock and relive her life as a 22 year old woman fresh out of college and ready to live life to its fullest. But the Internet allowed her the illusion of doing just that. It's actually pathetic.
There's something to be said for living a bachelor or bachelorette's life. You still have all your time and freedom and all your money to yourself. If you have no desire in your heart to be a lifetime spouse or to raise children, why bother following social convention and getting married because, 'that's what all people do'? Ask your own heart. If you really have little attraction for the married life or for raising children, then don't do it. The problem is, the lure and attraction of the romance of getting married is so overpowering, that it sucks us all in. It's especially harder for women to resist. Social convention and social mores even in the western world still strongly encourage women to marry. Not everybody out there is cut out to be a competent, loving husband or wife, much less a parent. We just haven't evolved high enough or far away enough from our homo sapien beginnings where evolution stressed re-production at all costs because human mortality was so high.
So... Why did Angela do this??
I'm not going into whether the film is real or not and all that but those twins she had to look after were scary as hell. If you had to be around them all the time, not quite knowing if one of them would one day get it into their head to bludgeon you to death, you might be looking for a little bit of a mental escape as well.
shareThere is no reason you could never have kids like that.
shareWell just look at the way her life went - she wanted to be a dancer and she got pregnant, she married the man and took on the responsibility of helping to raise his two disabled sons.
It was a way for her to be someone else.
It started innocently with the Abby persona - the 'you had access' line proves it. She admired his work and through an innocent voice approached him and showed her appreciation by painting him portraits.
Then with the Megan persona it kinda fell off the wheels - she became a beautiful, young singer/songwriter artist who was having an online relationship with an attractive New York photographer. From that point on I guess she was getting a little selfish but liked her fake life better than her real one and she elaborated and piled lies on top of lies to keep it afloat for herself.
It snowballed from there. I don't think she thought she'd ever meet him so it was a safe game of pretend for her.
Good analysis, Dragonair. I'd only add that she eventually got so far into it that she wasn't really conscious or concerned about getting caught. Remember, in the epilogue, Angela continued to write to Nev, using some of her aliases, even after she'd been discovered. She just couldn't let go.
shareSomeone commented that "she is a gifted artist."
Um, no.
Yes, Angela is an artist, but a mediocre one at that. She even knew this, this is why she said her paintings were done by her kid and not herself. A kid doing these paintings is impressive, but an adult? Just so-so.
Why did Angela do this? Obviously unhappy with her current life, i would say. She basically built a fantasy life for herself on the Internet. It was a way for her to escape... And a way to get a guy who most likely wouldn't be interested in her in real life interested. And it work. For awhile.
Perhaps she also wanted to do this to make some money with her art.
-I know this isn't nice to say but i KNEW when they went to go see her that she would be overweight.
-She knew when they came to visit that she was close to getting popped (caught), so that's why she said she had cancer - for sympathy. I knew the minute she said it she was lying.
I felt bad for her, but perhaps that's part of the trap? Basically, she's a pathological liar, a con artist of sorts... forgive the pun! lol
Wouldn't be surprised at all if sooner or later she'll be doing it again under another assumed name.
Good documentary/movie! Grade: B+.
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Before watching it and having only read the description and comments from other people about it I thought it sounded like Angela had a personality disorder. But now having seen it I think she was just lonely and regretful for the life and responsibility she chose to take on with her husband and his handicapped sons. It's sad.
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She needed her own catfish
shareApparently Nev's expose became the Catfish that made her face the truth and become a more truthful artist. Lol
I think it was more than just being bored. She was desperate, horrified, and lonely. I see a woman that was afraid to claim her art as her own; probably for fear of rejection and judgment. It's easier to pawn it off on her kid that doesn't know what's going on.
A woman of her age painting child-like art if in for more negativity and ridicule than if that art was seen as a child's drawing. Also, she said she used to dance, now she's older and out of shape. More blows to her self esteem. She was trapped in her own mental shell of wanting to reach out, but afraid of rejection. The lack of exposure to people like her left her lonely and frustrated.
I can imagine that she needed people that were more creative and intellectual to talk to and she wasn't getting that from her husband, little girl, and two step sons. She got that from Nev and kept it going by being who he wanted her to be.
Then the fantasy became a new world and a new drug for her. The creating a fake life on Facebook and piecing it all together, not to mention the high of having a lie accepted as truth became a challenge and was probably fun for her. There was also the internal notoriety of doing something bad by conning someone as well as the power of controlling that person's perception of the truth.
She needed someone more intellectual to talk to?
Because she was a personification of Isaac Newton? She was far from intellectual. The Catfish story, whether true or not, was far more intellectual than anything she said.
Why are other people defending her? She lied to Nev, her husband, most likely her Abby who she got to phone him on her birthday despite Abby never having any correspondence with him.
She used strangers pictures to make up fake FB accounts solely to further her lies.
When cornered she lied and lied again.
I don't care if she had failed dreams and had to raise disabled children. We all have failed dreams and raising the children was a responsibility she chose to take on. She could have and still can walk away.
I wonder what how much a man would be defended if he lied to his wife like that and whinged about his life. If he used his 8 year old child to start an sexual (those text) relationship with a young woman?
Even if this is fake she's a liar and needs to grow up, be a good mother, make it up to her husband and sort herself out.
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