BABIES

The movie “Babies” is filled with contrast of ethnicities, customs, traditions and ways of life. The film realistically portrays four diverse mothers and the first months of their babies since their pregnancy until the baby first steps. It has no dialogues; it only focuses on the newborns on a daily basis livelihood. My observation is that a baby will laugh, dance or cry, no matter what circumstances.
The most deplorable way of life is in Namibia. First of all poverty is exacerbated by the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The poorest households are those headed by women. Clearly there’s simplicity in regards to how to live life, day by day. Something pure to observe is that a mom will be a mom everywhere. In Opuwo, the mom will clean the kid with her tongue. There is no potable water to give to the babies, which will drink off anything possible. Evidently there are no filtered showers. Inadequate access to land and water lead to extremely precarious lives and the chances are that the children will suffer from severe poverty forever. They have no sense of education even though the mother tries to teach how to say “mom”. They learn to walk on the dirty ground, they eat raw dog meat as a substitute for animal protein. They look fragile and will suffer of starvation certainly. Flies are on them all the time. The only way for the Opuwo kid to go from one place to another is in the back of his mother, that’s the “transportation”. If the baby needs a haircut, the mother will do it with a sharp knife. The Namibian baby is always putting rocks in his mouth. They have no health access. Everything is of inferior quality comparing to an urbanized society.
The baby in Mongolia faces very precarious situations, such as being hold by a rope to not go out of the bedroom, also, unsupervised bath leading to a filthy animal drinking out of the water, chicken on the bed, and more. It’s sad to watch the transition when the toddler in San Francisco is playing on a rug cleaned by a vacuum, or happily in the Jacuzzi and learning from books, not knowing how lucky he is for having plenty water, toys, fruits, and all the schooling to come. The babies in Tokyo and in San Francisco have more similar activities, even though the day care in San Francisco seems more civilized than the one in Japan.
In Mongolia, the baby receives a nurse visit to check the weight and health of the little one. It is common to swaddle a baby. It seems to be done to keep the baby warm and comfortable but it looks like they are hurting the newborn. The Mongolian infant toddle in the middle of the cow’s defecation, but comparing to the baby in Namibia that has nothing at all, that’s not a big deal. The baby in San Francisco can regularly go to the doctor and have the best conditions and treatments.
Siblings will be the same all around the globe. Bayar’s older brother (Mongolian family) just likes to play and bother around, the same happens in Namibia, the babies have zero belongings, and they will fight for a small piece of craft. They feel the same way, no matter where. It’s noticeable that the four kids have their own magical experiences with nature, since that’s a beautiful stage and everything is unique.