Birth with Dr. R.D. Laing

Framed by the distinctive burr of influential Scottish thinker RD Laing, this 1977 documentary questions how the Western medical system handles childbirth: in Laing's view, "one of the disaster areas of our culture". Supported by arresting hospital footage and impassioned interviews with mothers, the film argues that women are often deliberately sidelined during the process of birth, and babies' needs ignored. Screenings in the United Kingdom and the United States saw it contributing to a debate about newborn care; one that remains ongoing. Birth won a Feltex Award for Best Documentary.

A newborn baby isn’t a lump of stuff that hasn’t yet started to feel, or that will perhaps start to feel three of four months after birth ... a newborn baby is a fully-sensured [sic] baby with all its sense channels open.

– RD Laing

Key Cast & Crew

Sam Pillsbury

Director

Jackie Scott

Editor

R.D. Laing

Subject

Helen Brew

Interviewer, Producer

Pat Cox

Editor

Don Reynolds

Sound