Just the mention of the word-babies makes me want to coo and talk gibberish. I love watching babies laugh, babble, whimper or smile in their sleep. So, when Thomas Balrnes, the director of the movie Babies came on Oprah show to promote his film and showed some clips of it, I couldn't wait to see the movie. But then, as usual, I completely forgot about it untill my daughter reminded me to request it on Netflix. So, finally one fine evening ,when my husband who prefers action movies to sober ones was out of town, my daughter and I sat snugly in our couch and watched the long awaited-Babies.
What is unique about this movie is that it is filmed without narration. No dialogue, no romance and no drama. And its' neither a silent movie that resembled the good old movies of pioneer times. It's all about babies, and how they grow up at different parts of the world. It gives us a look at one year in the life of four adorable babies growing up in four countries in the world. Three girls and a cute little boy are the main characters. A girl named Ponijao from Opumo Nambia, a boy named Bayar from Mongolia, a girl named Mari from Tokyou Japan and a girl from San Francisco, California named Hatti.
Four babies with different sounding names born to parents with different skin color, speaking different language and eating different kinds of food. Although, they are so much different in many ways, they do resemble in some ways. They laugh when they're happy, cry when got hurt, get mad when things don't go their way and fight with siblings to get what they wanted. That's what the movie is about. It shows whoever these children maybe and wherever they grow up, they are loved and cared by their parents and learn to crawl, walk, talk and play almost in the same manner. Watching the mothers interacting with their babies surely make me realize that these are precious moments for them whether they record them in a video camera or not. Babies are definitely precious whether they are black, brown, yellow or white. And the moments spent with these God given gifts are nothing, but P-R-E-C-I-O-U-S!
Ponijao, who is growing up in a dry and hot climate hardly seen wearing any clothes. Nakedness doesn't seem bother her nor those who live around her. She sits on bare bottom on mud floor, crawls and drinks muddy water in the stream, eat with barehand a gooey paste like something out of a clay pot. When hungry, she sucks on her mother's breast, which is always hanging bare and within her reach. What is interesting to note is that she is never left alone. Her mother is always near her, having a watch on her and her siblings. She grinds something to a red paste and rubs all over Ponijao's body to keep her from stinking bad in that hot and dry weather. Because of lack of water, the people living there had adapted some means to keep them clean and this must be one of the ways.
Bayar who lives in Mongola is mostly left alone to explore the nature around him. To see him enjoying his bath in a half filled tin bath tub, while a mountain goat with two sharply pointed horns bending and drinking water out of his bathtub make us so nervous. But Bayar didn't seem to be bothered at all by the intruder. Later we see him crawling all over the grassland where cows and calves graze and he looks so at home going undeneath the cattle legs and coming out unharmed. His mother or any adult in not to be seen around and he's on his own to explore. I can just imagine what a brave and independant ranger he would turn out to be one day.
Then there's Mari, whose parents are mostly around her to keep company, and she even get to go to day care to be around other kids. Its' so funny to see her get frustrated over her attempt to place a spindle into a hole in a rubber ring. She falls on her back and throws her feet in the air and bangs them against the floor crying nonstop. When she's happy she coos and charms everyone. It's interesting to see how cautiously she takes her first steps and her mother beaming with pride watching her from a distance.
Hatti, who seems to have got it all, looks like any kid growing up in any suburb in United States. Her parents are there to read to her, take her to the park, and even her grandmother is mostly around to keep a eye on her. It's also interesting to watch her eating a banana, carefully taking out the peel one by one and handing it out to her mom.
Yes, we got a glimpse of these four child stars at play. They are growing up in different parts ot the world, yet learning to crawl, talk, walk almost the same way. That was truly a precious and an ah-ha moment for me. I don't know whether these kids would ever get a chance to meet each other in their life time or what these innocent kids would become one day. But I dearly hope and pray that wherever they live, they'd be protected and guided to become great citizens of this world***
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