True Films: Babies

Babies

No narration, little dialog, much filming, all babies. Babies without a script. The camera focuses on four babies from four distinct regions of the world: Mongolia, Namibia, Japan and California. Quietly we watch them develop awareness, see them solicit reactions from their parents and siblings, and begin to impress the world with their wills. Each in their own habitat — as if this were a nature documentary, which it is. The baby of Mongolia shares the bath with a goat; the baby of Namibia eats dirt; the baby in California surveys an over-engineered environment. But as marvelous as these differences are, this wordless wildlife documentary shows that their commonality is even greater. We recognize the overwhelming babiness, or humanness, in each kid. Watching kids be themselves is so much more fun than watching TV, and here we have TV that is just watching kids be themselves. This film is a recursive nirvana!

— KK