Dhruv Sharma
Instead of simply portraying the hijinks of the teenagers, a lot of teen dramas these days come with an undercurrent of thrilling mysteries. Netflix’s new South African show ‘Blood and Water’, does something similar. The show’s narrative is divided into two parts: One focuses on the predicaments of teenagers while the other unravels a darker tale that leaves you with an ominous feeling. It’s pretty obvious the first narrative of the film will be relatable for teens but is completely a work of fiction. However, the second narrative is surprisingly grounded in reality. Read on further to know more about it.
Is Blood and Water Based on a True Story?
The characters of ‘Blood and Water’ are a work of fiction but its plot seemingly draws inspirations from the real-life story of Zephany Nurse. Just like Fiks, Zephany is a South African woman who was abducted from a hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, when she was only two days old. Celeste Nurse, Zephany’s mother, delivered her in 1997, and just before she fell asleep, she could recall a woman in a nurse’s uniform, comforting her daughter. Although the show does not completely reveal how Fiks was abducted after birth, it drops some hints which confirm that her case was very similar to that of Zephany.
Just like Fiks’ mother in the show, Zephany’s mother was not willing to give up on her daughter and celebrated all of her birthdays on the 28th of April. Moreover, she even offered help to the families of those who experienced similar losses. There’s a brief segment in the storyline of ‘Blood and Water’ where Fiks’ biological mother is told that her daughter could have possibly been found. In this tiny stint of hope, her mother starts believing that her daughter will come home again. But after running a DNA test, it turns out that the suspected girl was not the daughter after all. Even in the real case, Celeste Nurse was given a false sense of hope more than once.
Much later, Celeste’s other daughter, Cassidy Nurse, coincidentally ended up in the same school as Zephany, who was 17 at that time. When the two attended school together, despite their age difference of four years, they got along really well and many of their friends even noticed stark similarities between them. Morne Nurse, Zephany’s father, somehow came to know about it and that’s when he decided to arrange a meeting with Zephany. Right after the first meeting, he got in touch with an investigation officer. As a result, Zephany’s parents were asked to prove that they were Zephany’s biological parents. When they failed to do so, DNA tests confirmed that Zephany was the Nurses’ child.
The storyline of ‘Blood and Water’ is exactly the same with the only key difference being its mystery overtone where Puleng (Fiks’ sister) solves the case of her missing sister. Moreover, to make its plot a lot more poignant, the show also portrays the involvement of a much bigger conspiracy that involves the malicious work of many powerful people. Even so, the similarities between ‘Blood and Water’ and Zephany’s case are pretty evident. Zephany also wrote a book titled Zephany: Two mothers, one daughter, an astonishing true story, which she dedicated to her two mothers.
Here’s a picture of Miché Solomon, formerly known as Zephany Nurse:
Here’s a news snippet that reported her case:
Read More: Movies Based on True Stories
