AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: A MIDWIFE'S TALE - AMERICAN EXPERIENCE: A MIDWIFE'S TALE
|  | $17.63Availability: 11 In Stock
Condition: NewSKU: 603
UPC: 841887006217
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| Product Description- Actors: Ron Tough, Charlie Rhindress, Gil Rogers, Alyson Green, Ruth Anderson
- Director: Richard P. Rogers
- Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
- Audience Rating: Unrated
- Format: NTSC
- Language (Original Language): English
- Region Code: 1
- Release Date: 2006-06-13
- Running Time: 88 minutes
- Theatrical Release Date: 1998-02-02
Customer ReviewsReviewed on 2007-09-05 
Wonderful glimpse into the life of a wife, mother, and midwife
This is a PBS documentary about the diary of an 18th century midwife named Martha Ballard. It is interesting to view how her life was chronicled in her own words and portrayed so beautifully through this film. I also got a better understanding of life in those difficult times and how life was constant work and toil, especially for a woman. There are a lot of parallels between Martha Ballard's life and the lives of wives, mothers, and women across various cultures and time periods. It is encouraging to know that there is a common thread among women who take on so much of the work involved in family life, childrearing, etc. I am inspired that she raised her children with so much tireless strength and dignity, and even went beyond her own family to help other women bring their children into the world. |  | Reviewed on 2006-12-19
Perfectly wonderful
Enthralling slice of life from a rare perspective. Beautifully filmed & acted. Research is academically strong. | | Reviewed on 2006-06-25 
For Those Who Worship the Past
This was REALLY only meant for people that like recreating the past. Remember when Oprah attempted life as a woman in the 1700s? Civil War recreationists would like this too. Still, this is completely a niche market. Remember how the Simpsons tried a show like this and the show got cancelled? I was sitting here bored watching a show that implies "Wasn't eighteenth century life so interesting and admirable?" This is 90 minutes on one historian speaking on one historical document. I appreciate this as a contribution to women's studies. But otherwise, yawn!
This does mention spicy topics such as premarital sex and rape allegations. The historian can document health epidemics and property boundaries. Still, I would have like to seen this midwife's life contextualized. For example, how and when did she learn to read and write? I imagine most women in the 1700s did not have those skills. The work suggests that the midwife was not stigmatized for her job and made good money from it, so why didn't she pass this trade on to her own daughters? The work does show her tracking in snow. Still, Maine, to this day, is icy cold. Did she smoke meat? How did her family and other family survive during long, oppressive winters? Each woman and girl here always has her hair covered. I imagine this was in order not to catch or spread lice, but the work never says. When the midwife dies, her children and grandchildren are at her bedside. I heard this was a common practice back then, but the documentary never says. The historian notes that the midwife recorded her tasks and not her feelings. Is this an example of the Protestant work ethic? Again, things should have been fleshed out.
Again, do not view this if you aren't in the targeted niche. | |
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