Watch out for that goat! and other reactions to BABIES

I saw the new documentary, BABIES, yesterday. It’s a film that follows four babies (pictured above) throughout the first year or so of their lives. They live in four distinct parts of the world, from four very different environments. You can watch the trailer here.
Two of the babies are in urban environments, one in San Francisco and one in Tokyo. The other two are in very rural environments, one growing up in Monogolia, on the plains in an agricultural family, the other in a rural tribal community in Namibia.

There is no narration, no translation of the words being spoken by the parents and the film focuses on the babies themselves. Much of the footage is of the children, seemingly alone, playing, exploring, interacting with their environment.
It was pretty fascinating, although the cynic in me couldn’t help but wonder what the general audience would be thinking in reaction to the stark contrasts between the babies and their lives. That’s what’s unique about the film. You’re lead to your own conclusions, although the editing and sampling of footage highlights certain contrasts for sure.
My own Western biases were made clear by my reactions to the two rural kids and their much less stringent supervision. I found myself cringing when the Mongolian boy was crawling around outside their house–“watch out for that goat!” All of the babies were fine, no major accidents or incidents occurred. But my biases and Western paranoia were definitely revealed.
You can find more about the film here.