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Startling facts A scene from the The Business of Being Born directed by Abby Epstein

The films were fascinating on many levels – while it explored the intimacy of home birth by trained nurses, the superstitions of poor, low-caste mid-wives in rural India, the cold, methodical approach to childbirth in hospitals – it also delved deep into the miraculous process of creation and bringing life on earth.

In a society, where people are tight-lipped about the vagina and passage of birth, the movies, especially “Birth in the Squatting Position”, “The Business of Being Born” and “Birth Day” provided eye-opening and revealing facts about birth – and most importantly – the natural beauty of it.

“Birth in the Squatting Position” from Mexico was the opening film – which turned out to be a concise and insightful movie of ten minutes. Ancient brass figures of women giving birth in the squatting position during the credits revealed that birth is a time when the community of mostly women get together to provide emotional and physical support and also that it is natural and easier for women to give birth squatting. It was graphic! The movie was realistic in the way it showcased childbirth – the mother contracting, the father positing himself behind the mother and massaging her back, a father crying. This movie set the pace for the next three – taking far away from the sanitised, so-called hygienic way of rushing to hospitals in time and fathers fainting.

“Born at Home” from India proved to be a perceptive movie about the widespread practise of midwifery in rural India – which accounts for 50 per cent of childbirth. A far cry from the expensive medicated influences of spot-clean hospitals, piercing needles and hospital gowns, childbirth in rural India is completely different. Shot in mostly documentary form, “Born at Home” explores the myths, practises, beliefs and superstitions that underpaid dais or midwives have but also deals with the very humane aspect of the dai’s relationship and role in childbirth especially where rural women are severely malnourished. She is not just a deliverer but someone who keeps in close contact with the mother pre-natal and post-partum – walking for miles on end, providing bare necessities from the sparse environment and support. Her support is inspirational in many ways – while she helps the mother emotionally and physically, we also realise that hers are the hands that literally rock the world.

“Birth Day” was refreshing again – it captured the homebirth of a Mexican mother surrounded by her family and children – making it a community event. A home-video like documentation of the homebirth gave it a very personal, endearing touch.

“The Business of Being Born” from the U.S.A. follows the birth of the child of actress Ricki Lane to explore some startling facts about the statistics and rates of birth in the most advanced country of the developed world. It juxtaposes giving birth at home, childbirth centres and giving birth in the hospitals. The film traces pregnant American women who choose to give birth at home – a very rare practice so much so that midwives are a set of people who have been practically pushed out of business and their labour disregarded and condemned.

And then you realise at the end of the movies, that birth is not supposed to be an isolated, neglected event but something that needs to be talked about in greater detail – for the benefit of women who give birth and for a society which celebrates birth.

For more information or to join the Bangalore Birth Network, contact Paige Trabulsi at nycdoula@gmail.com.

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