Babies (2010)

“Babies” is an irresistible documentary film about … babies. It tops even “March of the Penguins” in the “awww” factor. There’s no Morgan Freeman voiceover, though. Editor Thomas Balmes uses no narrator, nor does he have any agenda to put forth. The camera simply rests and watches as these babies nurse, coo, discover their reflections and their toes, and take first steps. It’s a four-part story told from around the globe – a buzzing Tokyo, a simple farm in Mongolia, Namibia’s staggering Third World poverty, and a hippie townhome in San Francisco. No one upbringing is better than the other. They just are. Balmes asks us to re-set our CGI-drunken brains to witness real miracles on screen: A baby opening its eyes for the first time, the magical self-realization when a toddler finally stands on her own, and the funniest scene I’ve seen all year: A devious 3-year-old pushing his baby brother in a stroller outside the family hut into a nearby cow pasture, and walking away triumphantly. Awesome side note: Many young mothers brought their infants to the screening I attended, and the babies babbled and cried, and made this audience member smile at the best surround sound system ever created. A