Trailer for Motherland.
Mothers, daughters – and the occasional father – cram the corridors of Manila’s Dr. Jose Fabella Hospital. The ward is frenetic: hundreds of beds are strewn with mums and their carefully labelled new-borns. Birth control is frowned upon in this underprivileged, predominantly Catholic community; even unmarried teens and 20-somethings with six kids are reluctant to use it. Resources are limited so, in lieu of incubators, the hospital has adopted Kangaroo Mother Care. Parents are obliged to snuggle their premature babies to their chest, 24 hours a day, until they reach an optimum weight.
The camaraderie and openness of these resilient mothers makes Ramona S. Diaz’s film enormously engaging and gratifyingly uplifting.