Bébé(s)

When "Babies" comes out on DVD, it will be the perfect baby shower present for any parents-to-be. From the opening sequence with its variety of birth preparations, delivery environments, and the way that different cultures welcome new life, the viewer is given rare glimpses of a beginning. From there the filmmaker features the developing personalities of the respective babies.

The Mongolian baby is swaddled and often left alone with the occasional rooster and later toddles along alone among the cattle. His big brother is a bully, but he learns to stand on his own.

In Namibia, the baby is immediately socialized with other babies and children. The community of mothers share nipples, grooming, and other responsibilities, but mostly seem willing to let the babies learn their own lessons in their own ways. Not only do we see babies eating just about anything discovered on the ground, or crawling through the dusty plains, but we also enjoy their wild joy during play or dance.

The temper-tantrum of the Japanese toddler was one of the most delightful segments of "Babies". The little girl's world, carefully observed from her first moments, is nurtured by devoted urban parents whose world view is from a tall apartment building.

Born to earthy San Franciscan parents, the American baby is the center of her parent's universe. Her world is full of books, pets and parks. Some might consider her over-indulged, but her parents seem mellow and mature as they prepare their daughter for a future that she'll share with children from Namimbia, Mongolia, Tokyo, and every other global neighborhood.

I appreciated many moments during the many vignettes that linked developmental milestones of the four babies. The film demonstrated how much more alike we all once were before we learned to abide by this ideology, or that cultural construct. Whether our nourishment comes from a disemboweled goat, a cardboard box, or a farmer's market, we all require a connection with something grander and greater than ourselves.

Having recently celebrated the birth of Liliana, our first grandchild, I admit I am a little biased toward babies in general and the documentary Babies by Thomas Balmes in particular. The film, however, stands on its own as a joyous celebration of the first year of life for four youngsters in different parts of the world. Filmed without narration, subtitles, or any comprehensible dialogue, Babies is a direct encounter with four babies who stumble their predictable ways to participating in the awesome beauty of life.

Enhanced by the inspiring music by Bruno Coulais, we follow Mari, a little girl in Tokyo Japan; Ponijao, another girl living in Namibia in Africa with their mother and eight brothers and sisters; Bayer (Bayarjargal) a boy who lives in Mongolia; and Hattie, definitely the most privileged of the four who lives with her apparently super aware parents in San Francisco. Watching their development over the first twelve months of life is a direct experience of the enchantment that life has to offer. The babies laugh, they cry, they play, they get frustrated, they poop, and they bask in the loving tenderness of those around them.

Needless to say, their experience of the first year of life is vastly different, yet what stands out is not how much is different but how much is universal as each in their own way attempts to conquer their physical environment. Mari becomes frustrated as she sets about getting the hang of teaching toys by attempting to place a spindle into the hole of a disc. Bayer unravels a role of toilet paper and then takes bites out of it when it is all undone. Hattie crawls towards the door during a parental ecology meeting in San Francisco as if to say, "Get me out of here, I've had enough of this".

Though the language is different as well as the environment, the babies cry the same, laugh the same, and try to learn the frustrating, yet satisfying art of crawling, then walking in the same way. Of course, those in Tokyo and San Francisco have definite physical advantages over their young counterparts in Mongolia and Namibia. Hattie has the advantage of cultured and literate parents who read to her and show her books with the title "No Hitting." Bayer and Ponijao live close to earth, naturally sitting with goats or playing among cows, having their tongue licked by a dog, and even drinking water out of a dirty stream, yet we are confident that life for Bayer and Ponijao, though culturally different than for Hattie and Mari, will survive and prosper by the loving ways of their own parents and the environment in which they live. You will either find Babies entrancing or slow moving depending on your attitude towards babies because frankly that's all there is, yet for all it will be an immediate experience far removed from the world of cell phones and texting, exploring up close and personal the mystery of life as the individual personality of each child begins to emerge. For me, it was difficult to resist.

The name pretty much says it all here, as we follow four newborns from vastly different cultures through the first year of their lives. Without a spot of narration or even so much as a subtitle track for the non-English segments, it's a classic case of a film allowing its viewers to take whatever they want from it. As a relatively new parent myself, I was fascinated by the day-to-days of the two rural babies - one from the dust of west Africa, the other the grassy fields of Mongolia - and how completely alien their surroundings and practices seem from my comfortable perch here in the first world. It's tastefully filmed, with a particular emphasis on artistic framing and long, captivating shots of unsupervised children at play, encountering and discovering their world one step at a time. My young boys absolutely loved it, but at this point they'll watch almost anything with a cute face or two. Nice eye candy with a hint of deeper meaning, but not a show-stopper.

This movie shows the development of four babies from birth to about one year old. They are from extreme different cultures - Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and the United States. the movie is well-crafted - the photography and musical score is very good. There is no narrative. The movie shows babies as they explore, wonder and learn and I found it easy to create my own narrative as I did the same while watching them.

The diversity among them was part of the narrative. Namibia appeared barely touched by technology; Tokyo utterly transformed its landscape. It was interesting that the Japanese parents sang the birthday song in English and that the simple yurt the Mongolians lived in had an accompanying satellite dish. It is also amazing that each baby's unique personality emerges so early in their lives.

The universality of man was the other part of the narrative. Put a loincloth or a business suit on a man and a man is still a man. I wondered why are all babies so cute, be they humans, puppies or goats? Why does the first word in any language appear to be "mama"? Why were the animals so ambivalent and nonthreatening to the babies? Moms seem to naturally be tender with their little ones. Each baby experienced the struggle and triumph of learning to crawl, stand, walk and run just like the other billions of us.

This world has horrific evil, violence and darkness. But it also has beauty that about takes my breath away. People say "stop and smell the roses". Sometimes I find it good to look at a tree, or the clouds or stars, or people at the mall, just walking by. In the same way, I enjoyed watching the babies. It was a thoroughly entertaining and enriching way to spend 79 minutes.

I just got back from seeing Babies (Bebes) at my local movie theater. It examines the first year of four babies' lives in four diverse nations. There was no narration, which was a blessing, and nothing was translated. Thus, it was a true look at these babies' lives without any apparent biases, mistranslations, etc. I felt like I was back in my sociocultural ethnography class in college learning to view without judging and learn from each group. I would have liked more cohesion or purpose and the film may have been better if it had had a culminating milestone for each child at the end, but what was there was very good.

If you can appreciate other cultures for what they are and go in without judgment, this is a documentary for you. It also has extreme elements of cuteness, so if you want the "aww" factor, this may be a good movie for you. Unfortunately quite a few viewers in my audience were close minded and had a hard time viewing the film without making comments about what they viewed as poor parenting, so that is something to watch for if you go to see it in the theater.