First Hit: A joyous funny film exposing how much babies are alike around the world along with the subtleties how they might learn through their own different environments.
Last weekend I was out of town because I had lost a very dear friend to breast cancer and I wanted to support her husband, who is my best lifelong friend. He had asked me to write and give Monique's eulogy, so last Saturday I shared Monique’s path from her birth with a crowd of well wishers. Giving this talk was both difficult and inspiring.
Returning home this week, I went to see Babies and the circle of life and death, as represented by last weekend’s funeral services and watching this film, was a heartfelt release for me. When you see this movie it's obvious that regardless of where in the world you are born, whether it is in Namibia, Mongolia, Japan, the US or, like Monique, France we are thrust into this world of bright lights, darkness, a need to feed, and an internal energetic spirit to begin to explore the world around us.
We start taking steps to become who we are in each moment we exist. Where each of us is right now was a series of steps and the next step we take follows from the last one taken. In our beginning, which is where this film focuses, we all learn to feed, move, sit up, cry, crawl, say a first word, and take our very first step on our own two feet.
If we have siblings we might get pushed around a little as the family hierarchy is identified. If we have animals around us we’ll explore them. In babies, I am amazed at the calmness that the cats and dogs which get pulled, tugged and pushed in all kinds of ways.
No matter where in the world a baby is born, it learns from both the environment it is in and from an internal spirit, energy, and drive to explore the world in which we find ourselves.
The babies; Bayar, Mari, Ponijao and Hattie are the true stars of this film and each was perfect in their role. Thomas Balmes directed this satisfying film which let the babies be the point of interest and the parents, and their parenting, were to only be wondered about.
Overall: This is a genuinely feel good film.