Babies: A Development Film 1

The movie babies filmed in 2010 is an eye opening movie. It starts off by

introducing each mother and where they are from. We follow four different babies

throughout the course of the movie. One from Namibia, one from Mongolia, one from

Japan and one from the United States. Through the course of this paper we will find out

a little bit more about the differences and similarities each baby has growing up in

different parts of the world.

Physical development in babies is constantly changing, it differs by culture and

country. No two babies look alike, especially in this film. As the film progresses you get

to know and learn about all four of these babies from the moment they are born until

they turn one. Although one year does not seem like a lot of time it is a critical time for

babies. They go through a lot of changes. The baby in Namibia is the one that changes

the least throughout this time. His living conditions are not great as he is part of the

lower class of an already poor country. He is malnourished from the moment he is born

because of his living conditions, his mom has multiple children to feed. He is not as

privileged as the baby from Mongolia, although this baby also lives in poverty he is in a

more developed country therefore he does have the things he needs. You see him

drinking out of a bottle and being fed dumplings. The babies in Japan and the U.S. are

highly privileged. You can see them gaining some healthy weight as the months go by.

The babies’ cognitive development is pretty similar across the board. In the first

couple of minutes we see the baby from Namibia doing the same thing his mom was

doing while he was in the womb with the rocks and making some type of moisturizer.

Then we see the baby from Mongolia bother his cat just like his older brother was doing
 Babies: A Development Film 2

earlier in the film. The baby from Japan was in some type of baby aerobics class and

she was copying what the teacher was doing.

The babies’ social development was interesting to watch. The baby in Namibia

was exposed to adults and other children from the beginning so he was a very outgoing

baby. He did not have a problem playing and fighting and sitting on other people or

being away from his mom. The baby in Mongolia on the other hand was secluded from

the moment he was born and wrapped up in a blanket all the way until he was able to

crawl, the only people he came in contact with was his mom and older brother and

occasionally his dad. He was a lot quieter but he also cried more. The baby in Tokyo

went out with her mom on play dates with other children, she was outgoing and liked

playing with the other kids but was rarely with her dad, we see him distracted when they

are together. On the other hand the baby from the U.S. was always surrounded by

family, whether it be grandma or mom and dad, she was always very happy and

talkative.

Emotionally these babies were pretty stable for the most part. You do see the

baby from Mongolia crying more often than the others. I believe that is because he is so

secluded. His parents are hardly ever playing with him. Unlike the babies in the U.S.

and Tokyo where mom is always home reading or playing or sleeping with the babies.

You do not see them cry a lot other than when they baby girl from Tokyo is playing with

the other kids and the mom is not paying attention to her. The little boy from Namibia is

content with what he has. His mom and brothers and sisters play with him and he is

always smiling and playing.

 Babies: A Development Film 3

This movie was not particularly my favorite because of the way they show the

different living conditions. In my opinion they could have showed those same four

countries but comparing the same class levels. They could have done all middle or

lower class but showing a lower class family from Namibia and a middle class or upper

class family from Japan or the U.S. it is hard to put things in perspective. Although this

is not my favorite documentary I do have to say that it does support a lot of the theories

we learned about in class. This film definitely supports Piaget’s theory of cognitive

development. Piaget believes children learn through exploration of their surroundings. In

this movie you see the children react differently to things because of their surroundings.

If you put the baby from the U.S. in the environment that the baby from Namibia, the

American baby would be miserable for the first couple of weeks. As a baby though she

would quickly adapt to her new surroundings.