Babies….. a gentle encounter of the human kind

Directed by award-winning filmmaker Thomas Balmès, from an original idea by producer Alain Chabat, Babies simultaneously captures the rudimentary engagements between four babies and each of their mothers, siblings, landscapes and animals from birth to first steps. The babies are, respectively, in order of on-screen introduction: Ponijao, who lives with her family near Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal, who resides with his family in Mongolia, near Bayanchandmani; Mari, who lives with her family in Tokyo, Japan; and Hattie, who resides with her family in San Francisco, USA. This movie offers a gentle human encounter with a focus on what is right in the world – compassion, love and connection.

There’s a well known piece of advice to never work with children and animals, however in this movie Balmès works with both and the result is heart-warming, joyfully humorous and refreshingly engaging. Balmes creates a magical tapestry from the unscripted events in the lives of four babies and weaves them into a wordless journey of exploration and discovery as the babies gain their first lessons on how to interact with and attune to the unique world that surrounds them. For 80 minutes I was mesmerised by a nonverbal duet of synchronicity between mother and baby where communication is purely nonverbal - a gaze, touch or tone of a lullaby which is responded to by a reciprocating smile, enquiring eyes or inquisitive hand. Where the voices of the parents can be heard, Balmès offers no subtitles, rendering the voices as nothing more than sound effects. Then, Balmès takes this silent yet powerful dialogue and combines it with the vivid scenery of Africa and Mongolia and the man-made cities of Tokyo and San Francisco and result is pure mesmerising art.

The movie is a nonfiction art form. It’s not the message the movie makes that is important – in fact, it doesn’t make one at all – it’s the filmmaking. This is no home video or YouTube video montage. It’s a return to movie and documentary making of a long ago era where the movie screen serves as a window into the unknown and delivers the audience to another world. The photography is stunning and Bruno Coulais' music provides an enriching harmony to the visual journey. This combination invites us to step outside of our “urban trance” and build an emotional connection to these babies, their families and their landscape. The most captivating moments in this visual journal are those most removed from personal experience. We feel the tight swaddling of Bayarjargal for the trip home from hospital on the back of the family motorcycle. We hear easygoing Ponijao being cleaned by her mother’s tongue. We watch Mari falling asleep, high off the ground in her small high rise apartment, with the neon lights of Tokyo blinking in the background.

As the tapestry unfolds, I noticed my heartbeat would calm as I viewed the easygoing rhythms of Ponijao’s Himba tribe in Africa. I would get butterflies in my stomach as I watched Bayarjargal, the fearless Mongolian explorer; survive the attentions of a colourful rooster, domestic cat and herd of cattle as well as the fervent attentions of an older sibling. My breathing would become shallow and fast as I watched Mari in her toy-filled existence find her feet on hard, unyielding concrete in fast-paced Tokyo. Surprisingly, I would feel slightly confused in Hattie’s “do the right thing” world of middle-class San Francisco, the lifestyle I would have chosen as being closest to my own.

Though the film purports no message or divulges any scientific data, it did make me question how I could make it easier for my two young children to find their natural rhythm in our world and reconnect with nature. Through this movie I became aware of just how much noise I add to the relationship with my children – work, housework, shopping and my all too important Western-styled independence and self-development to name a few. Ponijao’s mother reminds us that motherhood is about being there and being close at hand.

Babies is a must see. An almost hypnotic film best suited for an easygoing afternoon. Cultural and maternal nudity.