Birth Story: Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives

2011

1h 33m

Documentary

List

88%

Tomatometer

8 Reviews

82%

Popcornmeter

50+ Ratings

Women on a 1970s hippie commune teach themselves midwifery. Their leader, Ina May Gaskin, becomes an author and staunch advocate for natural childbirth.

Hannah Forman

Bitch Media

A Birth Story is far from universal... Despite this exclusion, A Birth Story provides an important overview of the forgotten advocacy work that helped preserve homebirth wisdom and practices in the United States.

Jan 14, 2021

Full Review

David Lewis

San Francisco Chronicle

This film is so bereft of conflict and seems so intent on celebrating commune life and the sisterhood and the joys of midwifery that it glosses over important issues.

Rated: 2/4

Mar 7, 2013

Full Review

Owen Gleiberman

Entertainment Weekly

Highlights Gaskin's down-home gumption as an advocate for the glory of natural childbirth.

Rated: B+

Jan 16, 2013

Full Review

Nathalie Atkinson

National Post

It's interesting how in retrospect what [Gaskin] espouses, something so simple could be considered radical. Yet Sara Lamm and Mary Wigmore's documentary Birth Story makes that very point.

Mar 28, 2013

Full Review

Nora Lee Mandel

Film-Forward.com

Lengthy documentation of births. . .are fascinating to watch. . .but ends up reinforcing every stereotype. . . of midwifery as more appropriate to hippie lifestyle or Amish.

Rated: 6/10

Jan 30, 2013

Full Review

Marsha McCreadie

Film Journal International

The old ways are the still best, asserts this documentary, especially if it's a DIY birth with a midwife on hand to help.

Jan 18, 2013

Full Review

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Audience Member

Really inspiring movie! It demonstrates that natural birth and midwives have a long existing knowledge of women. It also really demonstrates that the exising precursion of medical doctors to use C-sections is not necessary

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

01/13/23

Full Review

Audience Member

This is an important film for all women to see, if only to let them in on the secret that there are alternative ways to give birth. Lots of great archival footage and some insightful theories on spirituality and childbirth made this a total joy of a watch for me.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/18/23

Full Review

Audience Member

I thoroughly enjoyed seeing Ina May Gaskin and the Farm Midwives. As an (Oregon) apprentice midwife myself, this is a treasured part of our history. I was glad to see the number of births in the film, both the straightforward baby-head-down ones and the one where a breech baby managed to successfully come out of a woman's vagina (something modern OBs aren't apt to do). This film does an excellent job of inviting the viewer onto the Farm and reassuring us that we can birth our babies.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/27/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Excellent doc on Ina May and the Farm!! Highly recommend!!

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

02/13/23

Full Review

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Sara Lamm

Director

Mary Wigmore

Director

Sara Lamm

Producer

Mary Wigmore

Producer

Kate Roughan

Producer

Zachary Mortensen

Producer

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Synopsis

Women on a 1970s hippie commune teach themselves midwifery. Their leader, Ina May Gaskin, becomes an author and staunch advocate for natural childbirth.

Director: Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore
Producer: Sara Lamm, Mary Wigmore, Kate Roughan, Zachary Mortensen
Genre: Documentary
Original Language: English
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 11, 2017
Runtime: 1h 33m

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