The Man with 1000 Kids

I do feel for the couples who went to the legitimate donor clinics and ended up with this psycho who obviously wants to leave his genetic legacy to the world. I also feel sorry for the thousand children who are his progeny, particularly the ones whose mothers just randomly decided that it would be a good idea to go and procreate with a total stranger, because he had nice blond curls. The IQs of these poor kids will probably prove to be quite the number...And maybe they did it because it was free?

I have absolutely no sympathy for the people who reached out to this random stranger and accepted his word that he had only fathered three or four children, oh no, maybe 25 children because now he was helping with second and third offspring for the couples that were already successful and had one child, so the lies just changed. No vetting on their part of his medical history (only what he told them), actually agreeing to having sex with him, so it would "work better" (I think one woman agreed to that I'm just so disgusted I have no words), waiting at the mall for the "sample"; commenting on how gross that is, because he is obtaining the sample in a public bathroom at the mall, but taking the sample home anyway...I'm sorry, you are trying to conceive with a complete stranger, and you want a child so badly that you don't care to look into his background.

Now your child has 50% of this narcissist's DNA. Good luck to you and to your poor children.

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.

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.

A group of Dutch mums to be are delighted to have found the perfect sperm donor, YouTuber Jonathan Meijer, a handsome Dutchman, with perfect hair and teeth, and a bizarre ambition, to father as many babies as possible.

It's like a plot from a sci fi series, it really is insane, its such a bizarre and twisted storyline.

It held my attention, possibly morbid curiosity, I had to keep watching.

Jonathan's story is such a bizarre one, I would have loved to know what he wanted out of it, was it simply to fill the world with his offspring, or was there something else to it? I was also puzzled to see if any of his actions were criminal or not.

A three part series, I'm glad they kept it at that, it would have been overlong, they just about get away with three. It is a little slow in parts, and why Netflix insist on these recreation scenes with real people, they are so pointless.

Will there be a follow up in twenty years or so, as his offspring move into adulthood, I wouldn't get against it.

7/10.