Review Of The Film 'American Experience: A Midwife's Tale'

The 1998 PBS film, American Experience: A Midwife’s Tale is a documentary directed by Richard P. Rogers. The film is based on a book by historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich in which she chronicles her research concerning the diary of a colonial period midwife named Martha Ballard. Martha’s diary entries begin when she is in her early fifties in the late 18th century and span up to when she is in her seventies in the late 19th century. Martha and her husband, Ephraim Ballard had five remaining which lived with them at the time in which she began her diary as well as their niece Parthenia Barton. Martha was well respected in her town, although she her title was midwife rather than doctor, “she was usually the first one called” (Ulrich). Martha often

dealt with sick individuals in her town which the cause for their illness is now believed to have been scarlet fever. Her duties extended far beyond midwifery and in more modern understandings she was “a physician , pharmacist, and nurse” (Ulrich). Martha’s life was filled with many hardships such as the death of her beloved niece Parthenia to what is now believed to have been tuberculosis and her husband being arrested her later years.
The film follows the chronological order in which events had taken place within Martha’s diary.

The approach that the filmmakers decided to take was to convey the story through dramatic reenactments of the events in Martha Ballard’s journal as well as voice over of Martha’s diary entries and Ulrich’s explanations of the events that occurred how her findings had unraveled for her. There are clips in the film of Martha’s actual diary as well as Ulrich examining the diary itself. As the story progresses, Ulrich shares her analysis as well as background as to what was occurring at the time. The dramatic reenactments also allow the viewer to easier understand what exactly was happening. Seeing as the Martha and her diary were from the colonial period, the dialect is not the same as it is today and takes some clarification to fully comprehend what it is that she wrote. For example, in the scene where an autopsy is performed on Parthenia in Martha’s journal entry she mentions “her lights” which Ulrich came to the conclusion that Martha was referring to the possibility of lung disease. Without Ulrich’s explanation and analysis this was likely something that would have been lost in translation.Ulrich; however, is the only historian featured in the film making her finding questionable due to not being validated by a second

party.
Although not in the typical format of documentary in regards to the use of dramatic reenactments, the film succeeded at relaying the story of a colonial period midwife. The dramatic reenactments added to the film understand and made for much more pleasant viewing experience. Being that there are not many written documents on colonial women it brought upon the question as to whether Martha’s entire story was standard for women of her time. Based on lecture and previous readings, it would seem that her relationship with her husband was typical; however, the respect she garnered through her practice made her extraordinary for a time where a woman’s duties were solely domestic.