The Business of Being Born (2008)

A comprehensive documentary on the business structure and the medical justifications behind the view of birth in the United States, this film is not only well researched, medically sound, and unbiased, but connects with the viewer by showcasing a human quality that is inescapable. Birth can be a touchy subject in America with the rise in cost of medical care and the politics of our health care system, but that's not what this film is addressing. Instead of showing the mere joy of home birth and following midwifery, the film contrasts this practice with the much more common hospital birth in the United States. Abby Epstein interviews experts in the field, ranging from OB/GYNs to heads of Cedar Sinai, European physicians, mothers who have had unpleasant experiences in the delivery room and others who have fear connected to that day in their lives. Epstein shows the truth behind infant mortality rates' rise in this country compared to the rest of the world who uses midwives, while also shining a light on the practices of obstetricians and the reasons behind cesarean sections and epidurals. The film even addresses the intense pain of childbirth and the use of interventions. This film really resonates because there is far more care in the way everything is presented rather than an accusing tone. (though that can be seen in the interviews with disgruntled mothers) The film also follows several mothers as they deliver in their bath tubs or squatting in their living rooms. One of the mothers' journeys is Ricki Lake's, who briefly appears to lend her support based on her own experiences, and the actual filmmaker Abby Epstein shows her own birth and her experience, which has an end result that is quite surprising. This film has opened (not changed) my mind on this issue, and as a woman who deals with pain in a swift and calculated manner, that is something that can be said with resolve. Truly a labor of love, this is a documentary both sexes should view with an open mind.