"Babies" follows four babies from birth to first steps. One is in Namibia, one Mongolia, one Japan and one in San Francisco. There is no commentary or dialogue. You won't learn anything about babies unless you can pick it up from observation. The most interesting babies are those in Namibia who are free to explore their environment including the dirt and animals. Almost never does mother interfere, though she keeps a constant eye on them. The Namibians and Mongolians live with animals as part of the family, goats, dogs, roosters, cows... The sanitised life of the little SF girl seemed so sterile and uninteresting in comparison. The babies are not presented as cute, but as intelligent new little humans trying to figure out how life works. The hygiene in Namibia and Mongolia is alarming to us westerners, but the babies seem to thrive anyway.
I was the eldest of five kids, so the way I remember babies is endless diapers to change and bottles to feed and crying. There was almost none of that here. The babies hardly ever cried, and never for more than a minute.
They don't tell you the sexes of the babies. It is interesting the way clues get gradually revealed in the way they dress and handle the children, until gender is physically obvious as 4 year olds.
I was the eldest of five kids, so the way I remember babies is endless diapers to change and bottles to feed and crying. There was almost none of that here. The babies hardly ever cried, and never for more than a minute.
They don't tell you the sexes of the babies. It is interesting the way clues get gradually revealed in the way they dress and handle the children, until gender is physically obvious as 4 year olds.