The Business of Being Born
- Birth miracle, rite passage, natural life. birth ao business. Compelled explore subject ar delivery ft child, actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein question American women babies. Epstein gains access sl pregnant York City women weigh options. te women become
Product Description
Birth miracle rite passage natural life. birth business.Compelled explore subject delivery ft child actress Ricki Lake recruits filmmaker Abby Epstein question American women babies.Epstein gains access sl pregnant York City women weigh options. women wl clients Cara Muhlhahn charismatic midwife bn birth events shares bh memories footage birth experience.Footage women babies punctuates BUSINESS BORN. Eh experience unique; equally beautiful equally surprising. Giving birth cy mt physically challenging event women gone ao mt emotionally rewarding.Along Epstein conducts interviews nr obstetricians experts advocates at history culture economics childbirth. film‟s fundamental question: sd births viewed natural life process sd ey delivery treated potential medical emergency?As Epstein uncovers surprising answers pregnancy adds personal dimension BUSINESS BG BORN must-see movie en thinkingSystem Requirements:Running Time: 85 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DOCUMENTARIES/SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Rating: UNRATED UPC: 794043120787 Manufacturer No: 1000038370Amazon.com
Is conceivable United States, profit increasingly driving business birthing–sometimes expense outcome mothers babies? birth viewed treated natural process potential medical emergency? Ts documentary, produced Ricki Lake directed Abby Epstein, opines tt money fear changing Americans birth, necessarily better. Beginning wh shocking statistics United second-worst newborn death rate developed world ht maternal mortality rates industrialized countries, film interviews wh medical professionals including Dr. Jacques Moritz, OB/GYN St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital; Dr. Michel Odent, OB/GYN researcher; Masden Wagner, MD, fr Director Women’s Children’s Health World Health Organization. Eh expert paints dismal picture American birthing emphasizes frequent overuse medical procedures oe potentially normal deliveries. Stressing prevalent midwives birthing or developed nations (70% births attended midwives Europe Japan, versus 8% U.S.), documentary follows Cara Muhlhahn, certified nurse midwife York City, attends variety home births. footage candid ss graphic, various home-delivery methods, including water birth. Interviews Cara clients emphasize tr shared philosophy birthing normal life process that, wn attended caring well-trained midwife, bh empowering exhilarating. Th midwife characterized supportive, medically untrained birth attendee, film dispels tt stereotype, stressing gd midwife’s solid training knowledge it’s appropriate seek outside medical intervention. Key ey birth commitment doing what’s bt mother baby, regardless pre-planned agendas. filmmaker’s lament tt hospitals doctors quickly advocate medical intervention saving time avoiding potential litigation. We unquestionably advocating midwifery hospital birthing, documentary solid expert opinions, concrete fs statistics, anecdotal experiences mothers midwives crucial informed decision at midwifery birthing wl enlightening current birthing United States. –Tami Horiuchi
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There was great potential for this to have been a classic educational movie. Instead of classy, it ended up as crass. Most parents will probably be frustrated over the foul language used, to include the “F-WORD”. It was not some minor interjection made by some on looking bystander. It was Ricki Lake’s choice word to describe the emotion of her labor experience. It was also Abby Epstein’s, the movie’s director, choice word in the heat of her labor. It could have easily been edited out. If you’re religious in any way, you will also probably be annoyed by the repeated use of “oh my god” throughout the documentary. Lengthy clips of completely naked women delivering their children at home started to be a bit over kill. The movie was 85 minutes, but it could have easily been condensed to about 25 minutes.
I’m a strong advocate of home delivery and the use of midwives, but I can not recommend this movie due to its unnecessary profanity and unnecessary “lengthiness”. Trust me, if you’re really interested in watching this movie; just see the 3 minute trailer. It will give all the information you need without the added garbage featured in the movie.
Rating: 1 / 5
Comment by kprSoCal — November 21, 2009 @ 11:54 am
Surely in this day and age the consumer is aware enough to understand that a documentary should in best case present an unbiased view of a situation.
So why is it that films like this are being made?
LET ME ASSURE YOU THE ISSUES THAT ARE PRESENTED ARE EXTREEMLY IMPORTANT AND VALID!! However that way in which it is presented is going to frustrate anyone who likes to come to their own conclusions with out being beaten into the presenters point of view. I feel that this film could potentially harm the cause, by compounding the already existing stereotype of the hard arse and slightly ignorant feminist radical… Come on people let the facts to do the talking and grow the hell up…
Rating: 3 / 5
Comment by L. Martin — November 21, 2009 @ 2:48 pm
This film starts a discussion that our society needs to have, for that I commend it to you. However, like many recent documentaries, it is one-sided (in favor of midwifery), makes some questionable claims, and “indulges in the kind of stunt footage for which Michael Moore routinely gets slapped” (Chicago Tribune review). For example, when the medical establishment is represented in the film, the individuals are usually self-critical – supporting the film’s agenda – and they are rarely given the opportunity to rebut the many claims made against the medical practice. For instance, the so-called experts in the film talk about the power disparity and physician paternalism in the OB clinic; they claim that many obstetricians don’t have the patients’ best interests in mind and will do anything to drag them into the operating room to have a C-section (because this is most convenient for the doctors). This may be true in some cases, but it was not true in ours. Moreover, I find it hard to believe that in the modern climate of patient-centered practice that physicians on the whole are exercising this kind of influence and making these sorts of decisions. I think they are more interested in providing adequate patient care and creating a positive experience for each mom (which, by the way, has the upshot of increasing business and avoiding malpractice suits). In addition, the new buzz word among professionals and in popular literature these days is “the birth plan.” Pregnant mothers are encouraged to have one, which means spelling out exactly how they want the labor and delivery to go. Furthermore, in our experience, the delivery nurses were great, and they fulfilled the role that a midwife or a doula might. Finally, many of the talking heads in the film pontificate that women who go into the hospital to give birth are “missing the experience” of what it means to truly be a woman and give birth the natural way. I find this judgmental attitude almost as offensive as those who argue that epidurals are wrong on the basis that the Bible says women ought to feel pain in childbirth since the Fall. My advice: consider both midwifery and the hospital and go with the option that works best for you. You could have a good or bad experience either way, so ask around for recommendations.
Rating: 3 / 5
Comment by G. Bock — November 21, 2009 @ 5:32 pm
My wife and I have briefly talked about midwives vrs OBGYN’s. My wife was delivered by a midwife at home. We are open to the idea of delivering at home and learning about the different options as well as the risks.
We are awaiting our 2nd child.
What I saw that I liked:
I enjoyed the openmindedness of the movie presenting a positive viewpoint of home births. Pointing out that women having a different perspective than a lot of OBGYN’s.
Being raised by an OBGYN I have had difficulties understanding the “hospital is best” perspective. I learned that an OBGYN was taught specific procedures, and tests that should be given to produce specific results. Med students are great at knowing different parts of the body, diagnosing illnesses, and working with urgent situations. They aren’t trained adequately in the different ways the bodies healing systems work together. They don’t view child birth as a natural process, but rather as a condition that needs to be treated. Due to this it can be hard for OBGYN’s to believe in and understand alternative child birthing methods.
I agree that hospitals birthing is limiting. Because of this some OB’s can not be as personal as they could be. They are given standards that they follow irregardless of what the women may want.
You can’t blame OBGYN’s. You can’t blame hospitals. The whole system is full of quirks. But we can’t live without them.
Things I didn’t like,
The movie talked about OBGYN’s only being trained in doing surgeries all day long. It stated that they don’t have the proper training to do OB Care with the patients. They don’t always provide the emotional care that the mother needs during the birthing process. Midwifes can fulfill this need more easily. The movie did not list any benefits about hospital births and is therefore very biased.
I didn’t appreciate seeing a lady compeletly nude in the bathtub. I understand that it is part of the birthing process but they didn’t need to show it in that way in the movie.
It stated that OBGYN’s don’t offer as personalized care as mid wive’s can. I think that depends on the individual mid wife and OB. In the movie the lady talked about having a midwife and and OB and her never thinking about going back to the OB. What I got out of this is that she had an impersonal OB and a personal midwife.
Rating: 2 / 5
Comment by findoutthebest — November 21, 2009 @ 7:03 pm
Informative? Sure. Gives a new perspective on a broken system? Definitely. Entertaining? Er …not really.
After talk-show host Ricki Lake experienced a bad childbirth in-hospital, she decided to try a midwife, and thus THE BUSINESS OF BEING BORN was …um …birthed. I can’t help but think that some of this (not all) was a ploy by Lake to put herself back in the public eye; specifically, the movie industry. Although this is strictly a documentary, and other actors support various causes (from freeing Darfur to Tibetan independence), this one felt a bit more forced.
The reason I say this is that the entire documentary was exceptionally boring and exceptionally lopsided. I work in the medical field (as an RN) but not in an Obstetrics setting. I can, however, vouch for the terrible cost of healthcare and some of the impersonalness of those giving it (as this documentary pointed out). I’ve heard doctors talking about “tee times” on the golf course and the need to “get home by dinner,” so time is a big factor for physicians (the film pointed out that C-section deliveries peek at 4pm — just prior to dinnertime — and again at 10pm — so doctors can get home to bed). Be damned whether the patient needs a C-section or not, doctors force the decision so that they can “get on with their lives.” Cut and run!
Even with its interesting take on the care of OB/Gyn patients in the U.S., the film never delves outside of the States even though certain statistics are presented (including telling us that the infant mortality rate in the U.S. is one of the highest amongst developed countries). I would’ve liked to have seen at least one interview with a Japanese midwife or a European midwife, and have them show us how their system works. But we’re never give the opportunity to see this for ourselves.
The boring nature of the film is that it never really finds its focus. Although the title of it is The Business of Being Born, it focused more on the plight of midwives and their care of expectant mothers at home or in midwife clinics. We drive around with midwives, trot down the road with midwives, listen to midwives talk on the phone to patients, and get to watch a couple of in-home births. Then we start the entire process over again.
And there’s also a brief and confusing stint in which we learn one of the film’s producers is pregnant and trying to decide on prenatal care.
All-in-all it’s an informative story, but one that might cause a few too many yawns.
Rating: 2 / 5
Comment by B. Merritt — November 21, 2009 @ 9:59 pm