New Babies documentary

[Blanca78]

I was bawling within 30 seconds. Can't wait to see it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vupEpNjCuY

[annablue]

I'm really excited! It looks absolutely fascinating. I love learning about other cultures, and I'm totally baby crazy, and the two are combined... what could be better?

[Stevi]

That looks like it will be fun to watch!

[vivica2]

"Babies are coming"

thats encouraging!!!

i already have a babysitter so i can go see this.

[nintendork]

I got free tickets to see it from the March of Dimes for participating in the March for Babies. I am so excited to see it!

[MI_Dawn]

I just can't. Too sad for me lately. Maybe some day.

[echospiritwarrior]

I can't wait!!!

[Blanca78]

Originally Posted by MI_Dawn

I just can't. Too sad for me lately. Maybe some day.

Maybe soon you will have your own babies documentary at home!

[BathrobeGoddess]

Moved from TTC ro media...

[terrordactyl]

I can't wait

[Monarchgrrl]

I saw Babies today. I thought overall it was pretty good. I cried at the trailer but not at all during the movie. I thought the movie was funnier than the trailer showed. The only thing I really didn't like is that there was no narration. Just music and you could hear some background talking but there were no subtitles so I couldn't understand anything that was said by the parents except for the San Fran people. I wanted narration so I could learn about the history or why the moms were doing certain things. Nothing. I thought it was more a movie for little kids to enjoy, rather than a documentary. It was more baby observation than really learning, I thought. The Mongolian baby and the Namibian babies were riots!!! Just the best parts of the movie. All in all, it wasn't what I expected but it was decent.

And FYI- at one point the Mongolian mom
lightly spanked her baby (maybe 10 or 11mo). Not hard and the baby didn't cry but you could tell she was mad and it was either his punishment or her anger. That bothered me. And he just spilled something on accident. I really didn't like seeing that.

[princesstutu]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl

I saw Babies today.

Thanks for the review. It looked like a silent movie in the trailers I've seen, which is why I won't pay theatre prices to see it, but I'm glad I'll enjoy it on DVD.

[laketahoemama]

I saw this movie today and thoroughly enjoyed it. My husband also liked it. For it being a silent movie, I was totally enthralled with it. Who doesn't love watching babies??

[Mother Cake]

DH & I went to see it today, too. I loved it being silent--for me narration would have detracted. I also really enjoyed listening to the reactions and moods of the rest of the audience. I see very few movies in the theater, and this is one I knew I wanted to see on the big screen. The visuals were stunning and I love baby watching. Plus the music was really good.

I had a sense from the trailers and what I read that there wouldn't be narration. I think I read somewhere that the filmmaker was trying to document the baby's lives from a baby's view point, so with that aim, silence made sense to me. JMO.

[ASusan]

Is it SILENT, or can you hear the babies and what is going on around them?

Do you think my toddler will like it? He watched the youtube trailer several times when I was doing his hair yesterday morning - kept asking for more.
He's never sat thought a feature-length film. 20-30 minutes of Little Bear, and about 35-40 minutes into Fly Me to the Moon, he fell asleep. (which was the point, seeing that he was hopped up on steroids for asthma when we hunkered down with him to watch it one evening last fall.)

[bajamergrrl]

Originally Posted by ASusan

Is it SILENT, or can you hear the babies and what is going on around them?

Do you think my toddler will like it? He watched the youtube trailer several times when I was doing his hair yesterday morning - kept asking for more.
He's never sat thought a feature-length film. 20-30 minutes of Little Bear, and about 35-40 minutes into Fly Me to the Moon, he fell asleep. (which was the point, seeing that he was hopped up on steroids for asthma when we hunkered down with him to watch it one evening last fall.)

I saw it today and really enjoyed it. It's not entirely accurate to call it a silent film. There are plenty of sounds in the movie - parents/adults speaking, animal sounds, music, baby babbling/crying/laughing. It just so happens there's no narration. That's because the movie is from the POV of the babies and the adults are just background players.

Your toddler might like it but I don't know if he'll sit through it all since it's about 80 mins long.

[Hokulele]

Love love loved it!!

Saw it Friday night and it has been on my mind ever since, especially when I'm interacting with my toddler. I would love to see even more footage (I read they have 100+ hours filmed for each baby.) I laughed, I cried, I had a lot of "awww" moments.

It isn't entirely silent. There is ambient noise and the background dialogue of whatever the parents are saying. But no subtitles so I didn't know what the non-English speakers were saying (I wish I could know!) And there is some non-intrusive soundtrack music.

This kind of movie is so my cup of tea though, babies, cultural interest, fantastic cinematography, babies.... I feel like I definitely learned something about parenting from seeing all the differences. Not necessarily anything concrete, but just an idea of how I want my attitude towards motherhood to be.

ASusan - My almost-two year old is VERY into babies (her favorite youtube is the evian roller babies commercial) and I think she'd love this movie but not have the attention span to sit and watch the whole thing at once. But there is nothing violent or scary or even loud in the movie, so there's no reason not to try!!

[tinybutterfly]

Originally Posted by Monarchgrrl

I saw Babies today. I thought overall it was pretty good. I cried at the trailer but not at all during the movie. I thought the movie was funnier than the trailer showed. The only thing I really didn't like is that there was no narration. Just music and you could hear some background talking but there were no subtitles so I couldn't understand anything that was said by the parents except for the San Fran people. I wanted narration so I could learn about the history or why the moms were doing certain things. Nothing. I thought it was more a movie for little kids to enjoy, rather than a documentary. It was more baby observation than really learning, I thought. The Mongolian baby and the Namibian babies were riots!!! Just the best parts of the movie. All in all, it wasn't what I expected but it was decent.

And FYI- at one point the Mongolian mom
lightly spanked her baby (maybe 10 or 11mo). Not hard and the baby didn't cry but you could tell she was mad and it was either his punishment or her anger. That bothered me. And he just spilled something on accident. I really didn't like seeing that.

Thanks for the review...trying now to decide if I want to see it in the theater or wait for it on DVD...

[La Sombra]

Loved it! Went with my family on Mother's Day, including dd who is three and was enthralled the whole time! I think she especially loved to see all the nursing babies on the big screen!

I thought it was beautiful, sweet and I also found subtly critical of our (Western) assumptions about how babies should be raised. In fact, leaving the movie theatre, my dd picked up a piece of popcorn off the floor and I said "Don't put that in your mouth!" and then instantly I thought of the Mongolian boy playing with the sheep innards, or the Namibian girl chewing on a bone she found in the dirt, and I thought, "Well, what the heck, huh?"

It's not a silent film at all as a PP said, it just isn't narrated the way a conventional documentary would be, and even the dialogue is sort of incidental to the film. But the music is beautiful and the cinematography is gorgeous.

[crystal_buffaloe]

I saw it Sunday and thought it was really beautifully done; I'd highly recommend it.

It was really just incredibly fascinating seeing how similar and how different the babies are across four continents. Especially because of the way it's done, probably what you take away depends quite a bit on your prior experiences and expectations going in. I could tell that some audience members were just horrified at parts, and others saw it as just a bunch of cute footage, and others as a comment on the differences between rasing babies in first and third world countries.

I also appreciated that there weren't any subtitles or narration, but I did wonder about a few things. Does anybody who's seen it know if the two African mothers were co-wives? Or mother and daughter? Or just relatives/friends?