Window Water Baby Moving (1959)
On a winter's day, a woman stretches near a window then sits in a bathtub of water. She's happy. Her lover is nearby; there are close ups of her face, her pregnant belly, and his hands caressing her. She gives birth: we see the crowning of the baby's head, then the birth itself; we watch a pair of hands tie off and cut the umbilical cord. With the help of the attending hands, the mother expels the placenta. The infant, a baby girl, nurses. We return from time to time to the bath scene. By the end, dad's excited; mother and daughter rest.
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Yawn. Poorly Filmed Snooze Fest.
People are voting emotionally.
If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.
There's a more than satisfactory amount of boom-boom in the movie's trim running time.
Well.. this 13 minute documentary short film from over 55 years ago can be summarized pretty easily. Basically it is a woman giving birth. And that woman is the first wife of the late filmmaker Stan Brakhage (Robert Sanders). 4 more kids were to follow for the pair before they divorced in 1987. Basically, it is not too uncommon that fathers film the birth of their children, but looking at the material this was probably a bit different. Anyway, I am fairly certain that Janne was happy during the next births that Stan was not filming her from very very close. I could only imagine what that must have been like, a pretty awkward situation I guess. Anyway, I am a bit familiar with the works of Brakhage and this is certainly different compared to the rest of his gigantic body of work. I don't know if it is better, but it's different. Maybe that's why this is maybe his most known work. Still, I believe this is really too personal and frequent (women giving birth) to be really relevant to anybody except members of the Brakhage family themselves. I can see no filmmaking genius in here, sorry. Not recommended.
Some amazing footage of the birth of Brakhage's 1st child, shot with great explicitness, with no holding back- we see the 'birth' of the placenta, the baby crowning, etc. And while this is as explicit a birth as I've seen, the setting (at home) and the feeling of intimacy make it anything but clinical, or exploitive. It's really quite sweet. On the other hand, Brakhage's insistence on rapid jump cuts, self-consciously oblique angles, etc worked in the other direction, pushing me away from a straightforward emotional experience. Which was, of course part of the intent. In making it not a documentary, but a subjective, somewhat surreal film, it seemed to be trying to go beyond a simple well-made telling. For me that worked well at times, but at others I'll admit to longing to finding the effects frustrating and not understanding exactly what they were trying to communicate emotionally or intellectually.Beyond it's merits as a film, it was also important in that this kind of footage simply didn't exist at the time. It was initially seized by the Kodak lab, and Brakhage had to get a note from the doctor involved explaining it wasn't pornography (!). The film was part of the beginning of the movement towards accepting childbirth as beautiful and without need to be hidden, that fathers can and should be in the room to witness and take part, and that big white hospitals aren't the only place to have a baby. So it had an impact on a social as well as a cinematic level.
While many women cringe at the thought of child birth and would never want to go through it, other women love children and are more than delighted to deliver a baby. I am a male, so I don't really have a true opinion, but I would really like to have a child someday. This film is essentially the birth of experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage's first child. We witness his daughter being born without the sugarcoating or hiding the act. We see the birth in all of its glory. Many viewers will be nauseated with the sight, but others will be honored. This film is amazing because we see life actually being given and it is amazing. The human body is very complex, and the birthing process doesn't hide this fact. This is a film that people will watch for the ending. The ending makes the whole process worth it as the child turns out beautiful and We as viewers are treated to a loving sight of the child living and very healthy looking. This is the sweet side of Stan Brakhage. Usually his films involve the viewers in the difficulty of trying to figure out what he is trying to say, but this film is almost like a reward to the viewer. Children are beautiful and it is strange to realize that in twenty years, they will be running the country.(I watched this film as part of the DVD short film collection of Stan Brakhage entitled, BY BRAKHAGE: AN ANTHOLOGY.)
An amazing avant-garde short of the birth of Brakhage's first child. This film is both graphic and beautiful while effecting each viewer a little differently. The colors in the film are especially striking. (Warning this film is not for the queazy).