Dick’s film seems poised from concept alone to be the kind of social issue doc that pounds us over the head with a single point, and yet, as with Birth Story, there’s no forceful narration and scarce intertitles-just a series of testimonials from women (and, in one case, a man) from every branch of the military. The picture that emerges early and often is of a boys’ club that protects its own and either ignores or further harms the women who come forward with accusations. įar more dispiriting is Kirby Dick’s The Invisible War, which tells of sexual assault and rape in the United States military. Birth Story doesn’t always feel like it exists outside of itself – other than the dangers of pre-emptive/unnecessary Cesareans, the story is more informational than implicative – but Gaskin proves a worthwhile subject largely on her own.
Hers is a profession somewhat in jeopardy, but her rarity doesn’t make her defensive. The filmmakers are exceptionally straightforward in their approach, providing no narration and few explanatory intertitles this is Gaskin as told by Gaskin.
Not only an advocate for natural, harmonious childbirth but also for the mothers themselves, there’s never any doubt that Gaskin cares deeply about the many women she’s helped shepherd through the experience. Lamm and Wigmore have compiled a great deal of footage from the period – bearded men wielding guitars, fuzzy camerawork, and hippie gatherings are all on prominent display – that seems to be of a bygone era until you realize that so much of Gaskin’s worldview is born of this time, that she’s still carrying a torch most others have long since extinguished.
and abroad since founding the Farm Midwifery Center in Tennessee in the early ’70s-no slim resumé. Gaskin, regarded as the “mother of authentic midwifery,” has been present for over 1,200 births, written four books, and lectured across the U.S. In a very real way, Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives presents the other side of the Pincus coin: where that film teeters near death, Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore’s documentary focuses on birth. Birth Story, Ina May Gaskin, Kirby Dick, La Camioneta, Los Angeles Film Festival, Mark Kendall, Mary Wigmore, Sara Lamm, The Invisible War
0 kommentar(er)
