Breath Of Life: Two Home Births

Adopting a "cinema verite" approach, this documentary which follows two home births drops viewers into the middle of a scene featuring a midwife teaching session with no map to guide them. In the beginning a midwife, using a teddy bear, demonstrates to a prospective father the process of birth. This is followed by two actual home births. In neither case do we ever learn the names of the parents. The camera simply records- and by camera, we mean home video camera-the labor and births. Subtitles inform us of the month and day and hour of labor that the woman is currently in, and that's it. The audio is often murky, and when one of the mothers-to-be goes outside to walk around the patio, the ensuing conversation with her mate is almost completely unintelligible as the wind blows across the camera mike. Expensive and pointless, this home movie is not recommended. (See AIKIDO: WAY OF HARMONY for availability.)