Document This- K2 Climbers, Babies, and Keeping it Real

I've started watching more documentaries while walking on the treadmill this week (on an incline, for the record- just because my stomach will look like a deflated fleshy balloon post-partum doesn't mean my ass has to), so here's a quick rundown:

The Summit

2012 

102 minutes

This documentary tries to piece together went wrong during the K2 (the second highest mountain in the world, located on the border of Pakistan and China) disaster in 2008 when 11 climbers died (not all at one time; it seems that there were various issues that led to this tragic episode). There are reenactments, interviews, footage, and various accounts by those there and not there. 

Verdict: I don't think this is necessarily the best documentary, but given the fact they were 8,000 feet above sea level and so many people died it was probably the best documentary on this subject. Personally, I enjoy climbing stories and nature documentaries, so I did appreciate this. The scenery itself is amazing.

Life in a Day

2011

95 minutes

I've had this documentary in my queue for forever and decided that I'd finally

give it a try. Basically, filmmakers asked people all over the world to record their daily activities on Saturday, July 24, 2010 and send them in. They then turned thousands and thousands of hours off footage into this documentary that records everything from mundane activities like brushing teeth, eating, and going to work to more life-changing events like birth, cancer, or shaving for the first time. We see people from all over the world, every age group, and from varying socioeconomic backgrounds.

Verdict: I loved this film; I enjoyed seeing how they put it together in terms of editing and organization, noting the differences in cultural practices, and the message that each day is both the same and unique. It also made me appreciate what I have and what I've worked for. 

More Business of Being Born

Episode 2- Special Deliveries: Celebrity Mothers Talk About Giving Birth 

74 minutes

I watched the first Business of Being Born a long time ago, when we were trying to get pregnant, so thought I'd give the second installment a go. This was the

only episode that seemed appealing to me, since the others are about doulas and VBACs and whatnot. This one interviews women like Giselle Bundchen, Cindy Crawford (has she had work? She's still so beautiful), Melissa Joan Hart, Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Alyson Hannigan, and Alanis Morisette, who all started off wanting natural childbirths. Each describes their stories from start to finish.

Verdict: On one hand all of the women wanted natural childbirth, so I felt, just like the Ina May Gaskin book I read, that there was sort of an "agenda." But as their stories unfolded I felt that the eventual message was that you just have to do what's right for you and your baby at the end, which I appreciated. I was also glad that this wasn't as graphic as the first one; in fact, there were very few pictures at all.