And Baby Makes Two (First Run Features)
Picture: C Sound: C+ Extras: C Documentary: B-
With all
the criticism of gay couples having children, as well as a wacky Right Wing
drive to pair couples of opposite sexes no matter how ugly or miserable the
arrangement may be, the Judy Katz/Oren Rudavsky documentary And Baby Makes Two (1998) is an
interesting look at women with the will, health, money and other resources to
have a child out of “wedlock” and without a man in their life. In some ways, the reactive thing to say,
think and feel is “how unfortunate” or feel sorry for the woman as if she were
the 21st Century equivalent of an old maid, but the point of the
work here is that there is nothing wrong with this choice if the single female
parent can handle it.
Tainted
by young underage gals getting pregnant, this shows us adult women who want
children before their biological clock times out and it all makes sense. The great thing about the women featured is
that they have no hang-ups about this or what anyone thinks to the point that
just about all of them never even address such concerns. Gloria Steinem makes a great point that
unless this situation comes about because a father is killed or dies, the idea
of a woman being able-bodied to do this is frowned upon (institutionalized
misogyny) and that a woman must always be in a masochistic position of
suffering for her to be “OK” with society (read male patriarchy) at large.
This not
only dispels that myth, but shows that this has been going on for a long time
and will only continue to be so as more people just can’t seem to mind their
own business. Well done.
The 1.33
X 1 image is a bit soft, even offering motion blur, making the viewer wonder if
this is because it is early digital low def or just a digital transfer of
analog material a generation down. The
Dolby Digital 2.0 is simple stereo if that, but the combination is
adequate. Extras include deleted scenes
and a new featurette looking at the results of the lives lived 10 Years Later.
- Nicholas Sheffo
