What would happen if your memory till date vanishes in a flash and all you are left with is a faint know of yourself? And what if everything you are told after that point is a big lie...? Makes for a good documentary. Right?
'Tell Me Who I Am', which is available to stream on Netflix now, chronicles the life of a pair of twins -- Alex and Marcus -- who went through an entire rollercoaster of emotions, and sentiment in their life.
Alex lost the memory of 18 years of his formative years when his bike spun out of control, in West Sussex, England. Alex suffered severe head injuries that left him in a coma and fighting for his life. The only thing he remembered when he woke up from the comatose state, three weeks later, was that it was his identical twin brother Marcus who was sitting by his side.
Marcus had to teach Alex everything -- from how to walk to how to brush his teeth, to the more complex questions. To the complex questions, Marcus told him about his fabulous family life. The only problem here was nothing was true. The reality was that the boys had a horrifying childhood, with a harsh stepfather and a mother who had sexually abused them.
In this week's issue of PEOPLE, Alex, now 55, recalls what happened when he found out the truth over a decade later. "My brother had deceived me. All of a sudden I just couldn't believe anything anymore," says Alex. The documetary is based on the brothers' 2013 memoir of the same name -- which reveals how their parents' deaths led to Alex questioning the authenticity of the stories told to him.
After their stepfather, Jack Dudley, died from cancer in 1990 and their mother, Jill Dudley, from a brain tumor five years later, Marcus was unmoved and Alex was puzzled. So, how did Alex find out what led to Marcus lying? As the twins were going through their mother's things, they found a photograph of themselves at age 10, hidden in a drawer. They were naked, and the faces were cut.
Alex says, "I asked Marcus if we were abused by Mummy, and he just nodded yes. And that is a moment that he and I will never forget. From then on everything changed." For the next 20 years, Marcus never discussed the abuse. "It's not that I wouldn't tell him. I just couldn't," he says.
The brothers only opened up to each other in 2013, when the two were offered a book deal. This led to the Netflix production. For Alex, hearing Marcus during the final scene of the documentary helped him in developing a deeper appreciation of his twin.
"I didn't realise the enormity of what Marcus had done. [How] he had to carry all of the pain — the fake story and his own story and everything else. So I was just in awe. We're closer than I can ever remember," Alex says.
The demons are finally put to rest.
