Studio Canal, Canal+, Chez Wam

Bayarjargal, Mari, Hattie, Ponijao

“Babies” is not for everyone.  It stars 4 babies, one boy and 3 girls, and 4 Moms, and a collection of older siblings.  With this documentary, what you get is simply this, the lives of 4 babies in their first year from vastly different cultures.  I’m sure the purpose is to make you think of how their births and lives are different, and how they are the same.  But I’m sure my most prevalent thought was “Who has the time to waste doing this thing?”   It’s like a guy who gets obsessed by building the worlds largest rubber band ball, or something.  Going all over the world to film 4 babies at one year each seems a bit obscessed.  Still, some things are fascinating.  It’s interesting how this filmmaker seems obsessed with cats.  Cats figure prominently throughout.

The film is a true documentary.  It has no narration or dialog other than the natural sounds that occurred.  There is no translation of the foreign languages.  But the music added is very good, and very understated.  Mostly it’s just about the babies.

This is definitely not for everybody.  Of course there are people who sit all day and watch “The Puppy Bowl” on Animal Planet, so I’m sure there’s a market for this for a lot of people.  It’s beautiful, touching, and very human.  But on the other side, if watching babies play is not your cup of tea, you’re going to get bored out of your mind, so be warned.

For those interested, the DVD has a special feature which shows the children as four years old.  Each of the children gets to see the finished film of their birth and first year.  It’s not very long, but it’s quite nice to see the followup to the film.

EdG – EdsReview Dot Com – A Movie Review Blog

 

 

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Movie Review - Babies (2010) {PG}, 2.0 out of 5 based on 1 rating

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