Motherland

Description

A maternity hospital in Manila, Philippines, bursts at the seams with the chaos of new life, as cameras capture the shock of childbirth, the exhaustion of new motherhood, the discomforts of poverty, and the valiance of efforts by hospital staff and loving family to face uncertain futures. Mothers engaged in critical care of their infants—some wrapping their prematurely arrived newborns inside cloths to keep them warm while coping with medication regimes, incubation, and sleep deprivation—are packed side-by-side on single beds in one large room, where staff offer daily loudspeaker announcements encouraging compliance with doctors’ and nurses’ instructions. Family visits offer support for the mothers but bring the bigger picture front and center for the viewer: some cannot pay the bus fare to the hospital, not to mention the pharmaceutical fees, and will be bringing both mother and baby back to indigent conditions. But what Diaz and crew capture is not at all a sight of pity, it’s a refreshing ode to resilience—as mothers in the ward laugh, cry, and support one another in their hour-by-hour struggles and staff maintain an empathetically watchful order. The production’s palpable optimism and unflagging belief in human spirit signal a rebirth of the cinema vérité enterprise itself. –Susan Gerhard

Film Details