[Review] Breastmilk
To be honest, I'm out of my element with this one. I'm at that age where all of my friends are starting their families, and being a single guy surrounded by married couples and kids has been a huge change of pace from my early 20s. Lately, I've been on the receiving end of parenting from who I consider to be a "Super Mom," getting a very detailed perspective on child rearing from a maternal point of view. In saying that, I felt like watching Breastmilk, a documentary on breast feeding, would be a more formal extension of those conversations. I didn't exactly get what I was looking for... then again, I don't really know what I was trying to get out of a documentary on breast feeding.
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Breastmilk
Director: Dana Ben-Ari
Rating: N/A
Release Date: August 5th, 2014 (Purchase Here)
Breastmilk follows a handful of women through their first year of motherhood, linked together by the topic of breast feeding. Based on my external conversations on the subject, I know that breast feeding is very important and nutritious for newborns. However, I don't really know why. I was hoping that Breastmilk would illuminate the pros and cons of breast feeding... but it doesn't do that. In fact, where most documentaries will have a stringent narrative (complete with a narrator guiding the documentary along), Breastmilk follows a loose outline over the course of the year, keying in on specific points relating to the trials and hardships of breast feeding.
Without the proper background information, I don't know why women choose breast feeding over formula. Breastmilk does hone in on the emotional and psychological connection a mother has with her child through breast feeding, but I was expecting a more scientific explanation for it. I really love loose narratives in documentaries, as it lets the subjects (and editors) set the tone for the films; however, I guess I just had too much of an expectation that, ultimately, can't be wholly held against director Dana Ben-Ari.
In saying that, I'm obviously not the demographic Breastmilk was targeting. I think the documentary would be a great supplementary tool for expectant mothers to see what breast feeding is like over the course of a baby's first year alongside the standard texts recommended by doctors. However, it doesn't inform or educate as much as I think it could have. As a single male in his late-20s, I guess what I expected were first-hand, entertaining lessons on breast feeding directly from first-time mothers. Instead, I got inundated with stories about latching, inabilities to produce excess breast milk, and more. While I loved learning about the other aspects to breast feeding, I still felt slighted not truly being explained the benefits of it in the first place.
[Trailer] Breastmilk
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Breastfeeding in public has always been seen as a social taboo. On the one hand, many aren't comfortably with seeing a woman pulling a breast out to feed their baby. At the same time, it's a natural process that ensures the baby's health is good and well taken care of. Breastmilk, a documentary by Dana Ben-Ari, explores all sides of breastfeeding. She interviews various women of all different backgrounds to get their opinions on breast feeding in what's being described as a funny and entertaining look at the subject.
Breastmilk is now available on VOD today; you can rent/purchase the documentary from their official website. We'll have a full review of the documentary later this week, but for now, enjoy the trailer and read the official synopsis below.
BREASTMILK, the new documentary by first-time filmmaker Dana Ben-Ari, is an unflinchingly provocative, humorous, informative and inspirational exploration of just how, when and why the next generation gets fed. The film dives into the fray of what really happens among new parents – those who want to breastfeed, those who can’t breastfeed and a whole culture caught up in the heady mix of stress, bliss and judgment that have made breastfeeding choices a matter of polarizing social debate.
BREASTMILK uncovers all the most surprising and concealed aspects of what it means to have milk: from hooter hiders to work-place pumping, from career moms to gay parents, from wet nurses to sex practices, from freaked-out fathers and impassioned “lactivists” to the moms who halt breastfeeding before their infant is 6 months old. The result is an illuminating portrait of an everyday human subject rarely shown on film.
Aiming beyond simplistic debates over what is natural or normal, BREASTMILK scopes out new territory. For the film is not only a revealing inquiry into our modern approach to one of the body’s most remarkable functions – it’s also an examination of how the most personal things become political and a stirring sketch of the breathtakingly diverse experience of modern parenthood itself.