An Hour and A Half Of Baby Footage: Why Not?
As life becomes more and more stressful, Babies is there for the rescue. This uplifting movie is about four children from drastically different cultures around the world: Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo, and San Francisco. The film shows each of their first years of life, including the ups and downs for each child. The film was shot with almost 400 hours of tape, increasing the chance of capturing the elusive infant sleep-smile, first steps, first falls, and other magical moments that make the audience chuckle, using hardly any dialogue.
The differences between cultures were startling. In Mongolia, after the nurse finished wrapping the little Bayarjargal with a blanket, she tied him up tightly with pieces of cloth and his parents hopped on a motorcycle with him in their arms and rode home. This would be unheard of for Hattie’s parents who take many safety precautions and overwhelm her with toys. The film also shows the interesting contrast of Bayarjargal, from Mongolia, who plays in a tub of water that he shares with a ram, while Hattie takes a shower with her dad, and Ponijao, from Namibia, bends down to drink from a river.
Babies brings out the divide between cultures and the different customs and ways that children are brought up throughout the world. Perhaps Ponijao’s upbringing is most shocking. With almost no material possessions, flies constantly crawling on her skin, and the freedom to explore the land around her, she still appeared to be growing, developing normally, and enjoying herself. In our society, it’s hard to imagine how anyone could be happy without our computers, TVs, iPods, and cars. We are eager to create genius children and, in Hattie’s case, we provide our babies with ridiculous toys and are somewhat overprotective from the beginning. Yet Ponijao and Bayarjargal, often left to the care of their siblings and only provided with household items and the land around them for entertainment, are content and just as smiley as any other baby. Both often grow angry with their siblings who test their power and often hit or push them.
However, these encounters seem natural and part of growing up, while the babies in Tokyo and San Francisco have to deal with additional issues. In one scene, Hattie attempts to run away from a baby music group, seemingly fed–up with the “Earth is our mother” song they have to sing. In another scene, Mari sits on her dad’s lap while he works at his computer and she plays with a cell phone.
As anyone who has seen a baby grow up would know, there is almost nothing more adorable than a small pre–toddler who is just beginning to discover and explore the world around them. Babies includes many of these moments in the toddlers’ lives. The cute-factor makes the audience ‘awww’ when Ponijao falls asleep sitting up, when Hattie grabs at the animals in a book her mom reads to her, when Bayarjargal unravel an entire roll of toilet paper, and when little Mari repeatedly throws herself to the floor crying, exasperated with her stacking toys. It’s just so cute.
In conclusion, I would definitely recommend Babies, but not to just anyone. If you can’t stand watching the utter cuteness that is Babies, maybe this movie isn’t for you.
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