The Fight for Life
Directed by Pare Lorentz
Written by Pare Lorentz based on work by Paul de Kruif
1940/USA
United States Film Service
First viewing/YouTube
[box] “Men die in battle; women die in childbirth.” ― Philippa Gregory, The Red Queen[/box]
I learned a lot from this docudrama about the battle to improve survival of women in childbirth in the 40’s but the music drove me nuts.
This follows a young doctor who starts working at an urban maternity center to learn obstetrics. The story is heavily didactic. I was amazed to learn that at the time of the making of this film 40% of births still took place at home, usually with no doctor in attendance. Infant and maternal death in childbirth was the second highest cause of death in America after heart disease. We see these doctors making house calls to deliver babies. Newspapers are the most sterile things on hand for the OB’s to lay out their instruments on. There is an unbelievable part when a mother starts hemorrhaging and one of the doctors collects the blood in a bottle and rushes off in a car to the blood bank. Makes me wonder whether they had ambulances in those days.
So this was fascinating, if dry, and I’m still thinking about it. How blessed we are with the improvements in medical care. But I could not stand the music which was the obtrusive dramatic kind which tells you what to feel at every moment. I could not remember why I picked this to watch and it turned out that it was Academy-Award nominated for Best Original Score!
The full film is available on YouTube at the moment.
