The Man with 1000 Kids

This man must be permanently stopped, anywhere in the world. And the donor system must be better regulated since he isn't, and won't be, the only one.

At the risk of sounding like victim blaming, however, sometimes some people can be a little shallow with looks - the most cliché form of beauty propagated endlessly by media - and they can be easily duped by cheap compliments. You could hear them talking how they might feel it's wrong or even disgusting at times, yet they went through with it because they're charmed. After learning what's transpired and that there could be intentional mixed-ups, two of the parents were even relieved that both their children got their DNAs from Mr. B&B whom they've selected from an online menu. I'm sure for them the decision to have a baby was made with utmost gravity, but the way some of them went about it - similar to that of marketplace online shopping - suggests otherwise.

The irony is that we might repeatedly teach our kids "it's the inside that counts," yet when we want to conceive, we might be obsessed with a certain type of beauty. This has to stop. After all, this is NOT the first time that our obsession with blond hair and blue eyes has brought us horrible chaos in the world - one very notable, terrible event that happened in the 20th century needs no reminder...

This is the story of a man that is obsessed with being a father to as many babies as possible. Either by donor and in some cases actual sex. Not only was he registered to 11 clinics in his country, but he travelled all over the world donating. Not only that, but he also donates privately through a website. There are so many siblings in his home country it will be a miracle that some wouldn't meet and fall in love with each other. The documentary follows several parents that were duped by this man who by clinic rules should only donate to 5 different families. What makes it even scarier is the whole community of men that are doing this as well. There's no strict rules in place so these families are trying to change things in an industry that needs way more legislation. It kept my interest and frankly I felt scared for these children, especially the ones that live so close to each other. Things are definitely going to be interesting in the future and not in a good way.

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.

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.

---

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.

---

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.

---

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.

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.