A French documentary film-maker looks at the first year of life for babies in four environments: San Francisco, Tokyo, Mongolia and Namibia. Many have looked for political subtext in the choice of subjects, but I think this film is best just enjoyed for itself. The artistry in this kind of film is in the cutting, and the film-maker does a marvelous job. The American mother hypercleaning her daughter’s environment (even de-linting the baby’s clothes) is juxtaposed with the Namibian mother cleaning her son with her tongue. The Japanese baby surrounded by hypervigilant adults is followed by shots of the Mongolian baby left alone with some pretty scary-looking farm animals.
I was particularly interested in the scenes showing the babies learning to walk. Research has shown that Africans rarely have back problems, which many have speculated is the result of their superior posture. It was interesting, therefore, to watch the little Namibian boy, just learning to walk, being given a small basket by his mother to balance on his head.
But the most startling cross-cultural moment was the most unexpected. The Mongolian mother, after wrapping her newborn in tightly swaddling clothes, returns home on back of a motorcyle. Yowza — don’t they use stitches in Mongolia? ;-/
The movie is more interesting than I thought it would be, and, at 80 minutes, it won’t wear out its welcome.