MILK by Noemi Weis

When a baby arrives to this world it brings us great emotion. We know that we are bringing a new life into this world. It is a victory.

Noemi Weis’ moving documentary begins with this message from an Argentinean palteira (midwife). In the film’s website, Weiss shared that working in the human rights field, she was inclined to examine the beginning of life. She first started with the idea of infant feeding because it is our first food. She said she could not talk about infant feeding without talking about birth, thus the film shows cliché yet realistic scenes of women giving birth naturally or thru Caesarean section. The subjects of the film are from different continents, but all share a common role – motherhood. Because of the film’s movement from one country to the next, from a French mother of three to an American pregnant teenager, from a mystical mountain in Argentina to a concrete jungle of Washington D.C., from an upscale hospital corridor to a shanty in the Philippines, it might feel like riding a bus while looking at the passing images. You know where to go and what to expect, but the dizzying speed makes you want to look the other way.

Weis knows where she’s standing and as a filmmaker she tried to be objective about her purpose without being too pushy or preachy about her documentary’s message. In this film, she wanted us to see the importance of breastfeeding, but at the same time, she democratically interviewed women who also chose to use formula milk and bottle feeding. The film gave ample viewing time on the wisdom of the midwives in Argentina (Weiss’ native country), and a limited one on a C-section. In one scene, a woman shares her harrowing experience during delivery (her OB-GYN tore her amniotic sac with the use of her nail), and so we get the idea that the film also promotes natural delivery. This is perhaps understandable, as women who deliver naturally have greater chances of making their newborns latch immediately after birth, and thus breastfeed successfully. There were also some staged scenes so as to produce the desired effect.

Because of its rather scattered way of cinematic movement, one may get confused as to the direction of all these women’s narratives. Weiss may have successfully tried to stand apart from her respondents, but her film’s victory can be considered Phrygian in some areas.

But Weis is also a brilliant storyteller. She weaves each woman’s story into a beautiful tapestry of universal truth – that human milk is the best food that a woman can give to her newborn. Viewers may have taken this truth for granted for some time, but after seeing Filipina mothers feeding their infants formula milk (donations from WHO) after Typhoon Haiyan’s wrath because they thought it’s more superior than their breastmilk, one can only be appalled at the ignorance of these women. And one will also be angry at the multibillion business of formula milk as they take advantage of these poor mothers.

In a sense, Weis has achieved her purpose of educating the viewers about the international milk code, and the heartbreaking scenes of Filipino malnourished children will make you want to reach out for that Kleenex you didn’t have any intention of using before the film started.

The last scene shows a group of African tribal mothers singing joyfully. It is a shot full of wisdom, beauty, and victory for women. In essence, this is what the film Milk is trying to deliver to us, and it has succeeded.