Six Weeks

The six weeks of the title is the period in which parents of newborn babies in Poland can decide to give up a child for adoption. For the mother in this unassuming, intimately shot documentary, the choice is clear. In a letter she leaves behind at the orphanage, she says that she does not have the means to support her child. Her house is too small, she has no hot water, no gas, and the welfare payments are not enough. And no, the child's father doesn't want it, either. The filmmaker is clearly moved by the fate of the babies in the orphanage. The camera zooms in on them so closely, we can count their eyelashes. To help the audience identify with the babies even more, the film is interspersed with scenes in which we see the world from their perspective -- blurred images that emphasize the helplessness and unknowingness of these children who have been given up by their parents. The grief of the mother who has to give away her newborn contrasts starkly with the unconfined joy of the adopting couple when they get their new child. The filmmaker seems to want to show how three lives can be completely transformed in just six weeks.