Original Kin: Relativity

written and directed by Brenda Kovrig (part three of a series) PTV Productions; $24.95 Canadian

Relativity is a wonderful documentary made by a Toronto-based filmmaker. Beginning soon after the director meets her birthmother, the film considers her questions of identity, the meaning of ancestry, and who she might have become had she been raised by her birth family.

I loved the funny, quirky, thoughtful way she explored her feelings. After interviewing experts on adoption, genetics, ancestry, and philosophy, in the end, she decides that life is random for all of us. As the geneticist comments about the nature v. nurture debate, “You can’t unbake the cake.” I highly recommend this film to anyone who wonders what their life might have been like under different circumstances, whether or not they were adopted.

DVD is available from McNabb Connolly, 866-722-1522.

Reviewed by Hope Goodrich, a 15-year-old who was adopted from China. She lives with her family in New York City.

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