Movie Review: "Babies" (Bébés)

Seen on: April 27, 2010

The players: Director: Thomas Balmes, Cast: Bayar, Hattie, Mari, Ponijao

Facts of interest: "Babies" is actually a French production.

The plot: The movie follows four babies from around the world as they spend their first year among the living.

Our thoughts: Thomas Balmes’ “Babies” doesn’t really qualify as a real documentary, but more like a cinematic experiment focusing on one year in the life of four babies from different parts of the world. Watching newborns do their thing for 79 minutes may not exactly sound like a compelling viewing experience, but much to my surprise, the film kept me engaged from start to finish.

The intention of the filmmakers was to capture how four babies in different locations spend one year in the environment they were born into, and in that sense, they successfully completed their mission. Luckily enough, the focus of “Babies” is not on how funny newborns are, but more on how they start to perceive and explore their surroundings.  

The fact that many babies out there are cute and often hilarious is a bonus that will certainly attract large audiences, so Balmes and his team hit a home run with this experiment either way. In a way, they also deserve the credit, because putting together a feature film that solely includes footage of newborns and at the same time avoids boredom must have been quite a challenge.

This brings up an interesting point. All the movie does is show how the babies scan their environment and how they try to take their first steps and say their first words. That’s it, and we all know how that works. Truth be told, it’s the vast distance and cultural contrast between the four locations (San Francisco, Tokyo, Mongolia, Namibia) that ultimately keep things interesting in “Babies.”

Would I watch this film again? Probably not. Is it something I would recommend? Yes. The reason is the fact that the filmmakers achieved to capture the daily life of four babies in a very cinematic way, and that’s what’s really separates this from the countless YouTube videos about newborns doing funny stuff. Most of the shots in this movie are simply gorgeous, and that’s a big plus.

Freaky quote: "Ouah, ga, ba..." - Various babies

The final word: There’s really not much else I want to say about this. “Babies” is the perfect film for those who love newborns, and they’ll see and enjoy it to the fullest extend. I’m not a big baby person, but much to my surprise, I didn’t mind this movie at all. It gets a tad repetitive at one point, but its short running time and constant back and forth between the four babies keeps things interesting enough.

Article by Franck Tabouring