The Movie Babies

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In the documentary, Babies by Thomas Balmés, the hillsides of Mongolia held a humble farming family. The mother, father and expected newborn traveled to a remote hospital for the birth. Once the baby was born, the nurse tightly bound the infant in several blankets with two strong ropes. This was the first action that struck me as odd. I was uneasy at the sight of the immovable baby. Could it breath properly? Would the constricting blankets break the infant's fragile bones? These were a few of the questions I had racing through my mind during this moment. As the family was preparing to leave the hospital, the father rode up on his motorcycle with limited room for the mother and her newborn. Once the mother and her baby mounted the motorcycle, the mother clutched her child with one arm and held onto her husband with the other. The grassy hills had no paved roads and the …show more content…

The family did not possess a car and could not have walked the extended distance to the hospital, thus, the motorcycle was the best option. Binding the baby so tightly may have been to protect the newborn from the motorcycle. Just like a helmet and knee pads, all of the blankets could have acted as protection for the child. The hills of Mongolia don’t have many other inhabitants, making the drive easier for the father. As the baby grew older, the parents were shown taking care of him less and less, however, it’s sibling, a toddler, undertook the baby’s care to help their parents. Working on a farm is tedious work, so while the mother and father attended to their duties, the baby remained with it’s sibling. The baby was also commonly surrounded by farm animals, which never harmed the child and kept the baby entertained. The infant’s weird pacifier made of meat and a match stick is just another demonstration of the families abilities. While they didn’t have typical plastic pacifier, the family made due with what they

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