Some friends and I went to check out the movie Babies at The Broadway Theatre in Saskatoon. I had seen a preview for it many months ago and was excited to hear it had finally made its way to the city of bridges.
The theatre was full of babies themselves and some seemed to enjoy the movie more than others. It really did give a kind of surround sound effect of the movie itself. When the babies on the screen were crying, the babies in the theatre also seemed to get a bit upset.
As for the movie itself, I thought it was really well done. I wasn’t quite sure how it was going to be, comparing four babies during their first year (or so) of life that come from very different parts of the world. I wondered if there would be some underhanded commentary on a “good way” to raise a baby or a “bad way.” I have to admit that even looked for it, searched for it even.
Admittedly, I didn’t find any judgments in this movie. It may have been that I was just too busy laughing at and with the babies on the screen. Actually, I really enjoyed how the filmmakers made the contrasts between the cultures as plain-and-simple differences. There were a few scenes that showed this and one that I remember clearly is near the beginning when there was a shot of the Nigerie woman’s foot and the next shot was the foot of a woman from San Francisco, USA.
As a birth doula, I would have liked to see the differences in the way women labour, but I understand that this was not the focus of the film. The differences immediately following childbirth were pretty interesting and the lifestyle differences between these babies are just amazing.
I would highly recommend that if you like babies or want to have a baby, go and see this movie. A word of warning, though, these babies are very cute and lovable and I can’t imagine anybody leaving the theatre without wanting a young one soon.
