19 October 2010

Movie-ish thingie, recommended

Girls, the next time Dad is out tending his flocks by night, consider eating your stash of Lonely Time chocolates while viewing Babies, a newish short film which documents the babyhoods of four children from different parts of the world. I watched this thing days ago and I can’t stop thinking about it.

Relatively free of socio-political commentary and completely sans stuffy British narrative, Babies presents a stark (albeit obviously edited) look into the parenting practices of people with whom I (and, presumably, many of our gentle readers) have little in common. And yet, while the subject matter is familiar, scant attention is given the annoying Pitocin drip of PSYCHOLOGY! we Americans have grown so used to enduring. Viewers aren’t subjected to lengthy interviews about the supposed benefits of tandem breastfeeding or boring discussions about a child’s cerebral responses to overstimulation. Rather, Babies is all about the babies—who naively become the consequences of their parents’ actions—and each viewer is given the freedom to formulate her own opinions on what’s working, what isn’t, and what, ultimately, doesn’t even matter.

So, while this film is heavy on the details, I won’t go into any and spoil the whole thing for you. Check it out, if you’re feeling like it (it’s available for instant play on Netflix, for those of you who subscribe). If nothing else, you’ll get to watch someone else deal with the poop for once.

N.B. As this movie is unabashed about letting all the poop, pee, breastfeeding, and baby parts hang out, I don’t think the dad/kid cordon will really get into it. I liked it because it talked my shop, you know? Poop. It’s on my business card.

5 comments:

etem said...

oh hooray. it's next on our netflix.:)

Joy said...

Watched it and my 18 month old sat perfectly still while screaming 'baby!' through the entire thing! The movie was thought-provoking and seeing my daughter voluntarily sit still that long was miraculous.

evc said...

This husband of one, father of four girls watched it and it was a hoot. My two oldest liked it, the two youngest were half watching.

Reb. Mary said...

Heard of it--thanks for the rec. Good point about the business card.

Rachel said...

As a stay-at-home Mom living in the Midwest in the year 2010, several of those Babies' mamas remind me just how easy my life is, comparatively.

I also enjoyed how simplicity of the movie emphasized the beauty of babies.