As a person who might one day participate in the so-called “miracle of birth”, I found this film to be interesting. I found it interesting not only because of my stake in the issue, but also because watching babies being born is really fascinating and this film involves quite a few babies. Have you ever watched a giraffe give birth? Craziest thing I’ve ever seen.
Anyway. Whenever anyone accuses the patriarchal system of exerting their power over and oppressing women, I’m usually on board with their argument. Also, whenever someone points out that every developed country in the world except for the US does something a certain way, I’m even more on board. What can I say, I was raised an America-hating feminist. Just kidding. Or am I?
Since this film employed both of these arguments, it took some effort for me not to immediately jump on the home birth bandwagon. However, I resisted the urge and viewed the film as objectively as I could. I found that it occasionally pushed its agenda a little to hard. I ended up feeling a little alienated a couple of times. Other than those few times, though, I thought the film presented its argument very convincingly and levelheadedly. Its facts were straight, its methods were clear and simple, and placentas are gross.
Also, the ending of the film contributed greatly to the levelheadedness of its argument. Throughout the film, the director is pregnant. Partly because of her research, she plans to have her baby at home. However, she ends up going into labor early and is forced to deliver via cesarean section in a hospital. Breached birth, you know. The film ends with her expressing her disappointment that she wasn’t able to have her baby at home. However, she goes on to talk about how grateful she is that the doctors were able to help her with the complications that arose. Ending the film on this note prevents it from becoming a one-sided assault on conventional hospital births.
I can’t really say if this film has convinced me to bear my potential future children in a certain way. It certainly makes the home birth option look attractive, but I’m not sure. Ask me again when I’m in labor. Ouch.
Wow! I thought the baby giraffe was dead when it fell out of the moma giraffe. Then it just got up and started walking! Makes me wonder why we humans take so long to learn. So, I think I pretty much felt the same way as you did about the film. Granted, I am not a woman so my opinion on the matter may be less validated, as I thankfully will never have the first person birthing experience. First of all, I have to say that before watching this film I considered home birthing one of those weird people things, that like really old fashioned people do, you know like those same people who don't vaccinate their children and stuff like that. So, it was really interesting to find out that the majority of births in developing countries outside of the US are done by midwives. I think that the film made a really good argument for making home births seem like a better option and not as a backwards practice. Their facts and stats and expert opinions did a good job of backing up the film's agenda. However, some of their experts seemed to me to not be totally trustworthy but maybe that's just me. I agree though in saying that the film did at times push its agenda a little hard. I just felt like although they did have good points they only slightly tried to show the other side of the argument. I would have liked the film to have explored both sides a little more evenly, and left the decision up to the audience instead of making the decision for them. The film was successful in that it showed me that home birthing is a good (not weird) alternative. The problem is that it was one of those things that I thought "well home birthing is great for some people, but I would never want my future wife to take such a risk." In other words, they convinced me that it can be a good thing but not enough to where I would actually want my future wife to have a home birth. Why take the risk? Anyway, I also think it would have been great if the film had talked about fathers a little more. They didn't even mention it. Maybe, I was just feeling a little left out, but I think fathers can and should play the largest role in the birthing process besides the mother and baby, yet they were not even mentioned. It was always about "the mother and her baby" and I just thought, "what about the father? Its his baby too!" Anyway, I agree though that the best part of the film for me was definitely the fact that the filmmaker herself was pregnant then had cesarian section instead of a home birth. That really added a whole new level of respect and legitimacy and it toned down the bias of the film by a couple of notches. Overall though, a super interesting film.
ReplyDeletethis is Skylar by the way...
ReplyDeleteI agree that the giraffe birth was quite interesting. I'm sure glad I didn't just fall out and hit the ground like that. It wouldn't have been such a long drop, but not the most pleasant.
I really enjoyed this film and I feel like I was able to look past its heavy handedness. I admit that I don't agree with everything that they said and at times they did seem to make hospitals look a little crazy. I guess though it makes sense that they needed to show us some things in an extreme way so that we would realize how silly it is sometimes in hospitals. An example would be the pitosin thing, it seemed a little over the top with all of the edits to the nurses talking about giving the women pitosin, but because of that I was able to see that maybe they do go a little overboard with it. If there had only been one scene with a nurse talking about pitosin then I would have thought, "big deal, some women need it to help them along," but that's not completely true.
Just like you two I liked how the film ended with Abby having the c-section in the hospital and it did tone things down a little bit. I think one of the biggest problems with many pregnancies is that people are just not educated about all the possible options. It was mentioned in the film that a woman will see something a doctor tells her as the only option and what she must do or else the baby will die. If we were more educated then it would be much easier to ask about other options that we know exist.
Going to the hospital and knowing all of your options will do you a lot of good. You would have the option of having a natural birth in a very safe setting and get the best of both worlds. I like the idea of a birthing center. I'm kind of rambling, but I think God made us a certain way and we don't always have to turn to modern medicine to solve something as natural as childbirth.
Wow. This seems like a very interesting film. Giraffe giving birth is not something everyone would have an opportunity, but luckily film educates. And i feel like this is exactly what this film was trying to do.
ReplyDeleteAfter I read that the director herself was pregnant, I found myself very interested in the film, and felt that since she was going through this very process herself, the lens through, which she would portray the topic would be very fair.
I am not afraid of the topic of birth, but am not one to go seeking out after this type of material. But after reading your review, I'm very interested to see and hear the arguments for certain types of birth. Hopefully I'll enjoy the film!
The funny thing is I *was* born giraffe-style! They don't do that anymore though...at least not in Utah.
ReplyDeleteNice job Drew. I addressed a lot of Kody's points in his blog reaction to it so I won't repeat here, but I'm glad you (and all of you) are trying to go past the surface and analyze what's going on here. And I'm glad to see you're trying to see films on their own merits--not easy to do when we already have our opinions and experiences.
Isn't it wonderful when documentary stories can motivate us to get more involved and question things or at least find out some answers for ourselves? Power to the people! And the giraffes! Just try to stick one of those gals with pitocin and see what happens.