In this beautifully-shot and warmly-narrated DisneyNature movie, four animal families adjust to life with their new cubs. Dawa, a snow leopard, hunts to feed her two young cubs. Tao Tao, a young golden snub-nosed monkey, has been displaced in his family by his new baby sister and tries to find belonging to a group of rejected males. A giant female panda, Ya Ya, raises her newborn Mei Mei to independence. A herd of female chiru complete their annual migration to their birthing ground, and back to the land where the males live. In this movie, we see the beauty – and danger – of nature.
The Adoption Connection
This is a movie about birth, family connections, and mothers. One mother dies trying to get food for her cubs. Another mother struggles to let her daughter be independent. The narrator says that their love is deep, but a stronger force of nature is pulling them apart. The narrator comments, “The joy of raising a child from birth is worth a thousand farewells.” Tao Tao gets less attention from his parents after his sister is born; he leaves his family unit for a while. When he tries to go back, his dad rejects him. simply after Tao Tao saves his sister from a predator is he allowed back into the family.
Strong Points
There are lots of reminders and depictions of familial – and especially maternal – love. For Dawa, “Keeping her kids safe is her life’s mission.” Dawa is content being with her cubs, and the narrator adds, “Nothing compares to being loved by the ones you love most.” Ya Ya and Mei Mei spend some months cuddled up together. When they come out of the den, Ya Ya nurses Mei Mei. The narrator adds that Ya Ya “just wants to hold onto her baby and smother her with love.” The bond of family, established through scent between mother and baby, is very strong in the traveling chiru herd.
When Tao Tao loses his place in his family, he finds a home for a time in a group of other males, called the “Lost Boys.” While it’s sad that he lost his place temporarily, he found community and belonging elsewhere.
We see the birth of a chiru and its first moment with its mother. It’s wonderful to see –it might be the first time your kids see a birth, and you might want to prepare them for it. It’s incredible that the Chiru can walk within 30 minutes of being born. The bonds between mother and baby, and between the herd, are strong. The narrator says, “The herd is many, but the herd is one.”
Recommendations
Born in China is a beautiful movie. The shots that the movie producers achieved are magnificent, and the footage they captured of the animal families are interesting, amusing, and remarkably candid – the animals seem to take no notice of the humans filming them. With the strong theme of birth and motherhood, I can imagine a couple different ways that the movie might impact viewers who are touched by adoption.
The movie could cause some sadness. children might relate to Tao Tao’s feelings of not belonging, or of being displaced. When he is rejected by his dad, it could touch on feelings that some children have towards the thought being rejected by their parents – either fears of being rejected by adoptive parents or feelings of having been rejected by their birth parents. He is eventually accepted back in, but only after he proves his worth.
The movie "Born in China" is available for free on bmovies in HD quality and you can watch it for free without any subscription or signup requirements.
