Babies analysis

Introduction
The documentary Babies by Thomas Balmès is a film that takes place in four very different locations around the world. The documentary follows four babies and their families from when they are first born as they grow up and are able to walk. We watch Ponijao grow up in Namibia, Bayar grow up in Mongolia, Hattie grow up in San Francisco, and Mari grow up in Tokyo. Because the babies are from such different places, the documentary allows us to see what it is like growing up in cultures that we are currently unfamiliar with. The film opens up your eyes to the various forms of living in other areas around the world. In this paper, I will discuss the universal themes I noticed, my personal reflection of the film, the various parenting philosophies on how to raise children, human nature, and the additional culture I would have like to see added to the film.
Universal Themes The main universal themes that I noticed throughout the movie were family and love. Even though each child was growing up in such a different environment than the others, each was shown love from their parents and family members. They were all treated very differently, but this still spent a lot of time with their families. However, the time they spent with their families was very different. The babies from Mongolia and Namibia spent time with their family outside while their parents skinned the animals they had killed to feed them. The babies from San Francisco and Tokyo spent much of their time inside playing games with their parents or in parent-child classes with other babies. In the cases of Ponijao and Bayar, they spent a lot of time with their siblings. However, their siblings did not always care for them in the best ways. Ponijao’s siblings often held him in very unsafe ways, and I even noticed them eating food off of each other’s bodies. Bayar’s brother was very rough with him. He would force big pieces of food into Bayar’s mouth and hit him repeatedly until he cried. With each