The Man with 1000 Kids

First I will review the technical merits of the series, then opine on the subject matter - fyi if anyone wants to tune out - although no 'spoilers' will be tendered

Objectively this is an above average documentary - albeit not unbiased towards the subject nor subject matter, but it's definitely a forgivable and defendable position for the filmmaker to take - the anecdotal evidence was presented fairly, the testimony effective and the 'recreations' fair and, although there for more dramatic effect, definitely did not pander to 'entertainment value' which is good, right?

Now, bear in mind I'm an affluent single middle aged white man who has no children and have taken extreme care to have done so, sacrificing to my own detriment - I believe that overpopulation is THE root of all the horrifying challenges our planet faces and that OUR species has bestowed upon the world - that being said, I stand firmly with the parents (and children) , both with empathy, respect and appreciation - I watched this with a growing sense of abject terror for that is what this guy is - an absolute environmental terrorist - (which includes terrorizing the parents as well as likely, sadly, his biological offspring) I feel it's important to cite how 800 years ago Genghis Khan asserted his will on enough females that we now can trace back one half of one percent of all humans to him - this is significant - my fear is that via air travel and internet communications etc (today's technology and ' small world') we may see even larger numbers with these super donor donks - it's very problematic - for the obvious reasons as well as unforseen climate type issues - I want to stop here and now to make it clear if any of the offspring be reading this that THEY ARE NOT IN ANY WAY DIFFERENT THAN EVERYONE ELSE - and hold no responsibility or culpability nor should internalize these potential issues as any "fault of thier own" it is MY DEAREST WISH that they suffer nothing but live joy filled, successful lives where they thrive - so that being said, I will discontinue my rant and wish everyone but the donors in question, well.

Unbelievable how many commentators here on IMDB call these women the most nasty things possible. Who do these sanctimonious people think they are? Calling them unnatural, bad, disgusting etc etc. And some are supporting the sperm donor, Jonathan. These commentators are evil. The women in this documentary trusted Jonathan. And others trusted the fertility clinic or the website they found online. Then they are confronted with a defunct system. Fertility clinics not being in contact with each other. Not syncing their digital files. Jonathan lying to these women. Lying about that he just helped so and so much women. And then these women are considered selfish? Unnatural? If these women behave unnatural then going to a doctor to be cured from a pneumonia is unnatural also. The nerve of these commentators. I think IMDB has a duty to monitor these comments and to remove their comments. These people are insulting the women who participated. They are ideologically and politically biased. And probably religiously. And the misogyny of some of them. My goodness. Supporting or giving advice to spermdonor Jonathan, even. This documentary shows how we just can't trust fully the medical system around us. We always need to check and double check. When sperm donors promise on a piece of paper that they won't work with other fertility clinics or with other women or couples, it should be under supervision of a notary or within some other legal context, where when the donor is behaving against the agreement he risks jail time or he will be punished financially. It's 2024 and that this was recently possible in a well organised society, says a lot about how badly our societies still are organised.

This documentary features interviews from a variety of parents who used the services of the same sperm donor without knowing it at first.

The man, Jonathan Meijer, donated sperm through a variety of clinics--signing declarations of exclusivity, but those were not enforced.

He also donated through facebook groups, freeform and without those same contractual restrictions.

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The problem comes in both that he intentionally and willfully breaches the women's trust and that the industry itself did not enforce their own standards.

By not enforcing the restrictions, a statistically unacceptable probability of children of the same donor interacting and perhaps even marrying may take place.

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After a lawsuit, the court issued a groundbreaking decree that restricted Meijer's bodily autonomy and right to donate further sperm, rather than just giving more teeth and punishments based on contract violations with the clinics.

Meijer, whose narcissism created a thousand children, is now precluded from having more.

Meanwhile, as the final title cards note, the industry itself still has the same flaws and cannot seem to accurately promise or enforce any limit on the number of children a donor has.

Since it's a huge industry, this ending left viewers with a feeling that while this one obviously extreme case is solved others (such as those mentioned in passing) are still out there.

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While the tale is cautionary and that's fine, I'd call this mini series "second screen" at most because it could have said the same thing in one segment.

The court case, while ground breaking, also doesn't solve the central issue of the industry's problem.

And as for the serial dad? He's incredibly dull as portrayed in this film. (Not to say that the film should be a hype machine, but if his solo punishment is the focus at the end, perhaps give us more insights on his background and reasoning than a few weak guesses.)

How can Netflix make this dull? Not sure, but they did. Would not recommend.

As the documentary is really well edited, you can't stop yourself from getting a disturbed feeling about what this man did. The women in this series can be very proud of themselves.

I hope that after this documentary there will be a better legislation in fertilization. There should be a law-change as soon as possible.

Although it's a tough story to watch, we watched it in one sit. They edited everything very well together.

Although I never leave a review, and even though I'm not the proudest to be a dutchie right now, I think this series deserves one. Also because I saw that there are negative reviews by men who believes that he did a good job.

You know what they say, "Look before you leap.". In this case, investigate before you baste.

There are so many unwanted and abused children in this world. It is awful to see people who desperately want to have a child to live be messed with this way, not to mention what this narcissist is as done to innocent children. This creep claims to have spent 50,000 hours helping people. Think about it. Yuck.

They say there is more regulation of animal breeding than sperm donation. Let's hope this disturbing story leads to better regulation.

It doesn't matter how you feel about artificial insemination. Innocent children are involved here. This docuseries gets more disturbing each episode.