User reviews

Marcos-44, you are dancing on the line between stupidity and callousness.

Please stop it.

The series has some excellent information on the science behind the learning and development of babies and young children. It mixes this with some questionably vague spiritual and emotionally driven language but this does not detract from the overall message.

To be fair...I did not finish this movie. At the halfway mark, I very much felt that I had gotten the point. Maybe it's because I started this after watching the Babies series on Netflix, which is so much more informative and nuanced. But this one just felt like the message of "love your baby, create safe spaces for them, allow them to play" over and over again. My initial kneejerk response was that I was not sure why we needed an entire hour-plus long movie to convey the point that children are precious and we need to foster a safe and developmentally appropriate environment for children.

THAT SAID.... After I initially wrote my review, I started thinking about this more. And ultimately I think this film has an important message that a lot of people don't realize. Maybe I'm just too enmeshed in discussions about gentle parenting and the negative effects of capitalism already, so the message felt repetitive to me...but it would not to someone else. And that alone made me change my rating.

I'll also add that the cinematography here is beautiful, and I really appreciated the focus on many different cultures and societies, and how it showed the commonalities between us all and the care and love we have for our children.

The most important thing is this film is its message. The audience in cinema room was crying and really touching at the end, but I felt some uncomfortableness at specific points, and may it happens more than I could observe. The goal of it is all the new research of science and an exploring journey to heart and spirit of a new future. But seeing some of the greatest mistakes of humanity, which we have a part on it, can conduct our mind to deny reflections and proves. Sometimes, people may find out its truthful points, but answering as "yeah, you right, but...". There's a lot of "but...", the most popular are considered in "The beginning of life", however, we have to deal with the fact that we are not trying hard enough to make changes in our struggling system. It isn't about get down capitalism (not for tomorrow), it's about see our lives as choices we made, even we didn't know it's choices. What thoughts we put on hierarchy, how we see our jobs, how we think about parentage, what we may understand about babies and children's, how responsible we feel for humanity's future... How far we can see that we are all linked and needed of relationship with our community. That's why is so uncomfortable. We are all responsible and its so painful (the present results) and out of completely one hand control. But if we don't make our own changes and thing about our conducts and thoughts, there'll be no difference at all.

About technical points, it has a beautiful photography and brilliant and clear narrative. Estela Renner bet in a diversity of families and scholars (may it's interesting to know that Italians are vanguard in contemporaneous studies of Early Childhood Education, and that's why they appears a lot and opens first film's lines) although there's some mental similarity - children need care and love, parents have had an special role in the way society is building. Something that may be pointed as negative is sometimes soundtrack is too high and made to wave in emotions. I think this can't change the message, just maybe over some cries, although narrow minds may try to reduce the film's importance.

To finish my review, I will leave a hint of the outstanding Argentine thinker, Gozalez Pecotche:

"How much more valuable it would be if the whole world were to witness the rebirth of the things that seem to have died out, namely, tolerance, respect, indulgence and all the beautiful qualities that embellish man's soul, so that their comprehensions would flourish unanimously to welcome a general reconciliation that would, like a watershed, fulfill the hopes for a better future and a constructive peace worthy of the generations to come."

(Sorry about my English, it is not my first language)

This is a documentary that's touches you deeply and changes your mind about several traditional assumptions on babies and children education and its importance to the future of our society and economy as a whole.

The rigorousness of content about early childhood education is infused with the most delightful and lovable imagery of babies and children exploring life in its most pure and essential form. This pure approach to life that babies and children have becomes so clear through the engaging scenes which are deeply inspiring to us, adults, that have to struggle to see the beauty in all small and simple things of our daily and complex life. They, the babies and children have it "hard wired", this feeling of awe with everything, and the deep natural presence and joy that they have and feel. You can see that they are truly thankful for the life they've just received.

This is a beautifully shot movie, with a proper soundtrack and a narrative that flows elegantly connecting an amazing spectrum of different specialists from all over the world and different schools of thought that allow us to learn a totally new approach to this challenging and enchanting journey of parenting.

The Beginning of Life help us to rethink deeply our education institutions and the importance of investing our energy, attention, body and souls to the early life of our next generation. In the same spirit I recommend to watch the other outstanding documentary from the same director: Way Beyond Weight (2012).

I truly believe that enabling and supporting a new life to take form in its full potential developing its own essence is THE most important project on earth one can do.

I'm not a parent, yet, but if one day I become one, this movie will be a important source of inspiration for me to be a good father. I am sure this movie will be in your mind for a long time, and you will always smile when you think of it. I recommend this movie to all human beings. Enjoy as if you were a new born baby. ( :

This documentary and the Netflix series should be required for any new parents and anyone expecting.

I am now watching this for the 3rd time, no joke! Each time I learn something new that I can use for the different developmental period my children are currently in and grow as a parent.

Human bonding is a science and watching different cultures from around the world is beautiful and informative.

The nut job who gave a negative rating on here must be some sort of psychotic creeper crazy man, it's a beautiful movie for all. It has ZERO political affiliations and rather radiates love and knowledge.

Enjoy and watch with your partner, let's all read better children in society.

With all the division in the world, there stands our children and how we must care and nurture them. This series is about that unity we all have towards our relationship with younger ones, their discoveries, their POV, and how the environment we provide impacts them, and ultimately, our future.

The most important thread that is weaved in this series is how global this message really is. There are interviews from countless individuals all over the world expressing a uniform message of love and a drive towards making the world a better place for children. This is incredibly insightful and flows expertly well.

One of the greatest advances in neuroscience is discovering that babies are much more than a genetic load. The development of all human beings is found in the combination of genetics with the quality of the relationships we develop and the environment in which we are inserted.

Watching this documentary after "The rebirth of childbirth" is not, but it works very well as a sequence, after childbirth, the difficulties of parents, father and mother, to take care of children in the early years, opposing the need to work or of one of the parents giving up work to stay with the children, or of giving up being a wife to being a mother, a much crueler life/choice for women... "It takes an entire village to raise a child"

Steeped in research, interviews with (really) THE foremost child development psychology experts.

Findings are: love. Give them, right out of the gate, stimulation and individualized attention... give them my time. Only need a little bit each day where you drop all agendas and just BE with my kid.

Succinct, VERY thought-provoking

LOVED IT.