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Baby Cultures
Victoria James
Education 350-HB1
Marilyn Lanier
February 8, 2018
Fayetteville State University
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Introduction
The blissful and cheerful documentary film directed by Thomas Balmes’ titled “Babies”,
brought us into the lives of four different children. Thomas Balmes’ spent years traveling the
world to research the lives of these four families, who agreed to be in his outstanding
documentary. The documentary follows the babies and their families from when they are first
born as they grow up and are able to walk. Balmes’ introduced us first to Ponijao who was from
Opuwo, Namibia; Bayarjargal who grew up in Bayanchandmani, Mongolia; Mari from Tokyo,
Japan; and Hattie who resided in San Fransico USA (Balmes’). The film signifies uncommon
key differences in life-style, multicultural differences and similarities of the four babies’
childhood from all different locations.
Film perspectives
Out of the four families two families lived in rural areas and the other two lived an urban
life. Ponijao, her mother, and other members of her Nubian tribe outside her family’s dirt hut in
Namibia (Balmes’). Curious Bayarjargal lives with his parents and sibling and a herd of cattle on
their farm in remote Mongolia (Balmes’). Mari has a joy-filled life in a small apartment with her
parents in Tokyo (Balmes’). Hattie, a sweet little girl who stayed in her urban home with both
parents in San Francisco (Balmes’).
The Namibian community that Ponijao and her family called home was closely knit.
They lived in the desert within some sort of tribe of herders, and they spent most of the day
sitting around, breastfeeding, doing each other’s hair, making jewelry, and talking (Balmes’).
There were thousands of flies in their scenery. Ponijao and the other kids in the community
played with stones and sticks and running water, mainly because that was all there was to hold
their attention (Balmes’). However, throughout the movie they do show a few times where the
older children rode donkeys for fun. The babies wore no diapers, and the mother purposely
wiped the baby’s poop on her leg, then wiped her leg clean with a stick. The women wore
absolutely no tops to cover their breast, so breastfeeding was common and frequently done
without delay (Balmes’). Fathers were not in the picture much, but watching the older kids, boys
and girls, who were entirely comfortable around the babies and the mothers was very pleasant.
The film showed the birth of Bayarjargal, from the Mongolian family, which was harsh
and medicalized (Balmes’). The baby was immediately swaddled and laid apart from his mother.
Bayarjargal stayed swaddled until he could crawl. Until he was able to crawl they would then
just leave him lying around, rather than carry him with them. Once he was mobile, they tied him
to a table leg to keep him from going far. Bayar’s older brother, unlike Ponijao’s brother, was
annoyed at the new addition to the family, and he took his anger out on Baryarjargal. In the film
