Synopsis
Director Abby Epstein's controversial documentary takes a hard look at America's maternity care system, juxtaposing hospital deliveries against the growing popularity of at-home, natural childbirths that some expectant parents are opting for. Former talk show host Ricki Lake was inspired to produce this compelling exposé after a dissatisfying birthing experience with her first child left her with many unanswered questions.
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Cast
- Julia Barnett TracyJulia Barnett Tracy
- Abby EpsteinAbby Epstein
- Ina May GaskinIna May Gaskin
- Ricki LakeHerself
Recommendations
- 75
TV Guide Magazine
It's a serious and well-researched consideration of natural childbearing vs. hospital delivery that explores the larger social conditions and assumptions that shape women's choices. - 75
The A.V. Club
More propaganda than cinema, and at an hour and a half, its exhaustiveness diminishes its impact. But Epstein anchors the film nicely with her own pregnancy, which occurs while the documentary is in production and comes to an unexpected conclusion before shooting ends. - 75
New York Daily News
Passionate, enlightening and unabashedly one-sided, Abby Epstein's documentary is not for everyone. But at the very least, it should be seen by every pregnant woman in America. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
A powerful, frightening look at America's delivery room. - 70
Village Voice
Epstein and Lake have crafted an absorbing, thought-provoking inquiry into what modern birth has become and how to make it better. - 70
The New York Times
A passionate ground-level examination of home childbirth. - 70
Salon
Lake and Epstein are not in fact trying to stigmatize other women's choices about how and where to give birth. Instead, they're trying to introduce an entire universe of history and information that should inform those choices, and that the medical establishment has virtually erased from American memory. - 70
Los Angeles Times
This unflinchingly shot picture is not for the squeamish. Epstein and Lake's own commitment to you-are-there realism is remarkable as well, each bringing new meaning to the phrase "naked truth."
