Friday, November 2, 2007

The Business of Being Born

Well we saw the movie.

I loved it! It was amazing and eye-opening and touching and... just wow. I wish that every person I know could see it. Seriously- if you get the chance- SEE IT! As soon as possible. This means women and men regardless of whether or not you have children. People need to see this movie. Period.

There were 250 people there last night- at least. I was so excited to see a good crowd there! The room was full of couples, expectant women, doulas, midwives, doctors, and even mothers/grandmothers who were there seeing it with their expectant daughters. Everyone seemed to really enjoy the movie!

After it was over there was a discussion time and we heard from doctors, midwives, doulas, and all sorts of moms spoke of their birth experiences. It was amazing to hear the wide variety of perspectives and experiences of everyone there.

The movie was a documentary about the birth culture in our country. It covered birth statistics, extensive birth history, and a wide variety of birth practices. They interviewed all sorts of birth professionals including OB/GYN, nurses, hospital administrators, CNMs, and CPMs. They also documented several births including home, birth center, and hospital.

It was really good to hear a lot of the things that I have studied and researched over the last three years confirmed by both midwives, doctors, and other mothers!

I highly highly recommend the film- to everyone. I would be thrilled if I could convince every single one of you to watch it. If for nothing else, do it for me? Pleeeeease! It would mean so much to me if you all would see it!

There is information here on being able to watch it via Netflix in early 2008.

Here is where the upcoming private screenings are available. (We went to a "private screening" but anyone can go! It's just not quite like going to a movie in a theater or anything.)

It will also open in select cities on the big screen sometime next year but I do not know all the details about that and it may be limited as it is a documentary film.

9 comments:

Kelley said...

I'm glad you enjoyed it. I didn't get to go last weekend. It just didn't work with our schedule. I did add it to my netflix queue a while back so I'll be seeing it once it comes out!

Anonymous said...

As soon as I can add it to my netflix queue I will.

Anonymous said...

Okay I just added it to my queue.

Elizabeth said...

Sounds very interesting. I saw on the trailer that Ricki Lake is the producer. What do you know about that?

Rachel said...

Too bad there are no showings nearby. There is one in Dayton, OH, but I doubt I will be able to go again so soon - we just got home from S&K last night:)

Rebecca said...

I so wish it were more readily available. It is definitely a movie that takes some effort to go see as the screenings are currently so limited. I hope it'll at least be easy to obtain via DVD when it is released!

Elizabeth- I'm not sure I understand the question. Ricki Lake is the producer. That's what I know about that! haha She's in the film a lot interviewing people and there is also footage of one of her own births included.. does that answer the question?

Elizabeth said...

Sort of. I was just wondering what reputation she has, I guess?? I think of her as a cheesy talk show host who I wouldn't think had much of a platform in this arena. . .I didn't if other people had commented on her involvement. It's like seeing a name like Maury Povich or Geraldo try to do something serious -- somehow, it always looks a bit cheesy. The preview looked amazing, so I'm not trying to saying anything negative about it, I just was surprised to see her name on the reel.

Elizabeth said...

that is, I didn't KNOW if other people . . . . . (I omitted a word!)

Rebecca said...

Huh. I never really thought of Rikki Lake as a cheesy talk show host but I can see why you would. I associate her more with the movies she is in for some reason. Weird. I guess I kind of always liked her and it didn't phase me to see her as producer.

I actually heard a bit of her story a long time ago and then heard not much later that she wanted to make a birth documentary so it's been a long time coming and I've been looking forward to it for all this time.

Anyway, it explains better than I can in the movie why she produced it and it makes a lot more sense. She had an eye-opening experience with her own birth and became passionate about birth and finding out more about the state of maternity/birth care in our country vs. the rest of the world. It's really cool how excited she is about it and she has taken it on and made it her platform because it has become important to her through her own experiences.