The Business of Being Born

A personal project, small and flexible, mostly focused on the takeover of the image and process of birthing in America by the medical and insurance industries. The makers wisely keep things personal, and justly attack the medical establishment's eagerness to induce or c-section, but also ignore the possibility of a natural childbirth in a hospital setting. Still, great birth footage, an important subject taken on independently, and a fantastic focal point in the amazing midwife they follow.

"A supposed investigation into America's attitude toward childbirth, The Business of Being Born quickly turns into a propaganda piece for midwifery before closing on a fortuitously complex note." - Nick Schager

It's full of moving (and surprisingly ungross) filmed deliveries, including those by Epstein and Lake themselves. Unfortunately, the movie is also a propagandistic brief on behalf of the home-birth movement that's so selective in its presentation of information that it makes Michael Moore look like a fat lady in a blindfold holding a pair of scales.

I admit it moved me when I saw one woman (well more of them did) giving birth to a baby in a bath, cause I thought I surpressed those 'baby' feelings. But this doc relies too heavily on the fact that hospital deliveries aren't always good, and its now become natural. After half an hour it becomes quite clear it happens too often, but you don't have to make a doc about it with a running time of an hour and a half..

Gets the point across pretty well, but manages to stay unbiased by including a surprisingly emotional and personal ending. It was shocking to see how quickly hospital birth became the norm in America and how doctors rushed mothers towards c-section deliveries. Sadly, due to a lot of the supporters of home birth and 'women's choice' being hippies or free-thinkers, it might not change the mind of people who think home births are "for ultra-feminists" or those who simply oppose the medical system.

Good documentary. Pretty fascinating.