TRUE crime documentaries on Netflix have earned a solid reputation. Our Father, directed by Lucie Jourdan, is about a fertility doctor who surreptitiously used his own sperm to artificially inseminate more than 90 individuals who came to him for fertility help. Dr. Donald Cline was a well-known fertility doctor in his Indianapolis region for many years.
His patients believed that they were being inseminated with donor sperm or sperm from their own spouses. Cline, on the other hand, had other ideas, which he did not reveal to his patients: he utilised his own sperm. Jacoba Ballard, one of his later kids, was the first to notice something was wrong when she submitted her DNA to 23andMe.
She went further, trying to find out why she was related to more and more siblings, and finally concluded that Cline, who treated Ballard’s mother in 1979, was most likely the father. Cline later acknowledged to using his own sperm, despite his initial denial. What follows is a narrative of Ballard, her family, her half-siblings’ families, and their shared quest for justice.
It’s an undeniably compelling narrative. But Our Father is willing to just tell it – to get every ounce of shock value out of it without contributing anything of higher worth. It’s crammed with flimsy testimony from traumatised mothers and children. These are repetitious by definition, which soon leads to diminishing rewards, and degrades the victim’s misery.
The scenes in which Cline performs artificial insemination are particularly disturbing, with unnerving close-ups of medical tools and frightened ladies coupled to sinister soundtrack. Cline makes an excellent horror villain, depicted as cold, heartless, and unremorseful in both interviews and re-enactments. Until you hear recordings of his chats with Ballard, you might assume his portrayal is exaggerated.
These talks, as well as court transcripts, are the sole information we have about Cline in the documentary. While we do get to hear from his co-workers and friends, we do not get to hear much of his side of the tale. This is understandable given that he did not collaborate with the film-makers. Cline never explains why he used his sperm to father so many children. We will almost certainly never know why Cline did what he did.
In the documentary, director Lucie Jourdan never explains why fraud charges were never considered. Cline was subsequently charged with obstruction of justice for lying to state authorities about fathering the siblings in December 2017 at the age of 79, but he was not charged with any felony for using his own sperm.
Our Father is currently streaming on Netflix.
FEATURING: Bri Ana Wagner, Carrie Nungester, Donald Cline, Islam Moawad, Jacoba Ballard, Jason Hyatt, Keith Boyle, Lea Roman, Leslie Koch Foumberg and Simone-Élise Girard
DIRECTOR: Lucie Jourdan
E-VALUE: 8
ACTING: 8
PLOT: 9
