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Usually ships in 1 business days | | Only 1 left in stock, order soon! | | | | | | Experience joy and happiness at its purest in this life-affirming, universal celebration of the magic and innocence of Babies. Proving that if you surround your baby with love it doesn’t matter what culture you’re from or what child-rearing practices you follow. Babies travels the globe following four children from vastly different corners of the world—Ponijao from Namibia, Bayarjargal from Mongolia, Mari from Tokyo and Hattie from San Francisco. Sure to put a smile on your face and a warm feeling in your heart, it’s the film that critics and audiences agree “could be the feel-good movie of the decade!” (Moviefone) | | | |
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| | Product Details | | Director: | Thomas Balmes | | Format: | AC-3, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC | | Language: | English | | Subtitle: | English | | Number of Discs: | 1 | | Studio: | Focus Features | | Run Time: | 79 minutes | | DVD Release Date: | September 28, 2010 | | Average Customer Rating: |  based on 106 reviews |
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| | Customer Reviews | Average Customer Review: ( 106 customer reviews )
Write an online review and share your thoughts with other customers.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
42 of 43 found the following review helpful:
 Relax and Enjoy! May 28, 2010
By Gary Peterson
A short time ago, my wife and I were joined by a new baby and our remarkable little boy is now at 19 months. The baby was a first for both of us and neither of us had almost any prior experience with an infant. Everything that unfolded was new and a very interesting experience. When my wife spotted the new "Babies" movie, we just had to see it. We both enjoyed it very much and will be buying the DVD when it becomes available.
The movie is a very unusual documentary of four babies in four different parts of the world (San Francisco, Tokyo, Mongolia and Namibia) and four different cultures. There is no story. There are no spoken words, only background sounds. The movie goes from scene to scene, back and forth, back and forth from baby to baby and location to location. We watched with fascination as each baby learned to adapt and cope with it's new life as it unfolded in it's particular environment. Very interesting to watch. We cringed at some of the baby experiences and laughed at others. Of course, we had our own living example for comparison and it has promoted a wealth of conversation.
If you have a newborn/toddler, be sure to see this movie. You'll enjoy it immensely. Actually,babies are so interesting and humorous that almost anyone could enjoy the film. It's a very unusual movie to view. The photography in the various settings is excellent. The sound is good. Relax and enjoy.
Gary Peterson
20 of 20 found the following review helpful:
If you love Babies, you will LOVE these BABIES ! Aug 20, 2010
By mom2sarah...
The concept is deceptively simple: follow four babies from four different countries from birth til they take their first steps ~ 1 year old. As others have noted, there is no (spoken) narrative. Rather, the camera documents the four babies in the same situations : being born, first smile, at play, sleeping, etc. I watched this movie with my daughters and we all absolutely loved it (I was glad that they did not actually show the birth process). We all had our favorite babies - my daughters loved "Hattie" from San Francisco but I fell in love with the baby from Mongolia as he was so adorably mischievous. This multi-cultural perspective on babies is utterly fascinating. You will find yourself asking such questions as "Which baby seems the happiest?" (asked by my 9 year-old daughter); "What do babies REALLY need to thrive?" - toys, shelves FULL of books, or just a loving mom and a roll of toilet paper? There is a particular scene where Hattie bites her mom and instead of reprimanding her (like the Mongolian mother did when the baby was naughty), she pulls out a book entitled ~"No Biting". It's also interesting as an American parent, to see how "sterile" our babies are compared to the babies that grow up in countries like Mongolia and Namibia. Most importantly,as a parent, it makes you appreciate the "magic" of raising a child. A must see for all parents, and lovers of children, including children themselves. It is also a very entertaining movie. My girls laughed out loud and had me rewind it (rented and recorded it on Cable) in several places. Be forewarned: it may increase your urge to have a baby-I luckily slapped sense back to myself.
28 of 30 found the following review helpful:
 BABIES is cute, funny and sometimes moving. May 21, 2010
By RMurray847
BABIES is a feel good movie that arguably has absolutely no point, or is very profound. It is a documentary that essentially films the first year or so in the lives of 4 babies from vastly different parts of the globe. We simply observe them eating, evacuating, smiling, discovering their toes, learning to crawl, learning to play, and so on. Certainly babies are cute, and it's easy to get an adult audience to smile with and laugh at these silly little creatures.
That could be the point of BABIES..."look, how cute." And frankly, it's pretty satisfying on that level alone. But it could also be showing us, and the most basic levels, how we're all so VERY similar, at least when we start out. That all of us, whether from Namibia, Mongolia, Tokyo or San Francisco...we all have so very much in common. That's a simple, almost clichéd "lesson", but BABIES presents it in a clear and undeniable manner.
I very much appreciated the underlying points to ponder of BABIES...but mostly it was just a 79 minute delight. It's a wonderful cultural lesson: short after birth, we see the Namibian baby essentially spending his time completely nude and the little Mongolian child swaddled tightly in many layers. Both are valid child-rearing approaches...but are starkly different and both are moving. Seeing the Mongolian child wrapped like a cocoon is a startling image...yet given his stark and cold surrounding environment...it is a way for his family to show their love and caring for this child when they are unable to physically be there holding the baby.
The Mongolian child was my favorite (although I liked all the kids)...and I suspect each person will have their own favorite. For American viewers, the San Francisco baby may either strike a strong chord, or may seem to be the least interesting. The Mongolian child was interesting because he was so darn cute, but also because he had a deep relationship with the animals that were such a part of his family's farm: roosters, cows, goats, cats, etc. You can see how this tiny child will grow up to care for and understand the animals in his charge, because being around them is as natural as breathing. I found all those scenes to be rather touching.
Do be sure to enjoy contrasting the American child-raising to the styles around the world. One of my favorite moments: we see a toddler aged Namibian baby enjoying sitting outside his hut with his extended family, enjoying tribal music in the very area of the world it originated in. It feels integrated and RIGHT. Then we cut to the American girl, who is with her father participating in a group with lots of other kids and parents, sitting in a circle in a classroom, singing "Native American" songs and clapping their hands in a "tribal" rhythm. The American baby leaps up and runs screaming to the door of the room, trying to get out. The audience I saw this with just busted out laughing...we all saw the irony of an African child enjoying African music and an American child balking at enjoying "fake" African music. Draw your own political conclusions.
If you've seen the trailer for this film and enjoyed it...then you WILL enjoy the movie. It's just more of that. Simple and sometimes moving. And while there's lots of baby nudity and topless women in Africa...the movie is suited for the whole family, in my opinion.
(PS: It's a French movie, but that makes no difference. There is no "dialogue" or narration...nor is it needed. Sure, you understand what the American parents are saying...but believe me, when you hear the Mongolian boy say "papa" for the first time...you don't need a translator.)
9 of 9 found the following review helpful:
A lesson for our modern life! Sep 04, 2010
By Toni
I watched this documentary recently in whilst on holidays in Europe. There was no spoken commentary and that was a bonus for a film like this.
If you are interested in human development - here it all is before you in the first year of life of four healthy babies growing up in caring environments. All the milestones from a Child health and development point of view and interesting observations of baby caregiver interactions are here to see in 4 different cultural environments.
This documentary also brings home the vast differences in the two more western environments -US and Japan, and the contrast of the Mongolian environment and the baby growing up in a very different environment in Namibia.
What we can learn from this documentary is that normal healthy human babies growing up in loving families and stable environments develop physically and emotionally in much the same ways despite all the things that we tend to think are essential in our western culture.
We see a vast contrast in the cultural environment in which the Namibian baby lives, for example, and our western culture where we tend to feel we need to have a vast array of purchased toys for each stage of development, lots of fashionable clothing, and often we are so isolated we really do need to attend mothers groups for contact with other mothers and to and learn from each other, and then there are baby gym classes to attend.
We can see from the other environments how all this tends to happen quite naturally in the Namibian group and in the Mongolian family it is different again due to the family's need to survive in their environment.
As a bonus, there are also the beautiful scenic backdrops of the locations.
Whilst this documentary is delightful to watch for anyone who adores babies, the important message here could be that healthy babies who are born into caring families who interact with them and give provide opportunities for learning end up developing normally in much the same ways, in these vastly different cultural environments.
8 of 8 found the following review helpful:
Interesting view of International child rearing Nov 03, 2010
By E. Wilhelm
"OHMomma"
I watched this movie with my husband, toddler and baby and we all loved it. It has plenty of "maternal nudity",
which consists of breasts (when the babies feed) and pregnant bellies. No vaginal or birth scenes here. I got a
lot more out of it than most other people did because I am interested in natural birth, cloth diapering and
organic living in general. I just wish they showed more about how the primitive mothers took care of their babies
when they were sick or injured, baby food preparation, more about how they diaper or potty train- things like that.
It made me realize how absorbed we "civilized" folks are in all of our gadgets from the moment we are born.
The two developed nation babies quickly had learning toys surrounding them, while the primitive babies played
outdoors with what nature provided. The primitive moms did not worry about their babies crawling naked outdoors
in the dirt, crawling in and drinking from a moving stream, crawling under livestock or on rusty barrels. When I
let my son crawl outdoors he tries to eat every stone he sees, so I don't know how they keep them from choking
on stuff! Meanwhile we developed nation mommas are concerned about each milestone, counting how many words the
child is learning and whether they will be ready for grade school, so why do we complicate things? We tend to go
for the man-made answer to everything. As a mom I felt this movie taught me not to worry so much about the small
things (like back when my son ate a bug & I nearly passed out) and I was reminded that babies are all the same no
matter where they are born, they just adapt differently to the environment they were brought into & this movie lets
us watch that happen.
See all 106 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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