This film raises tough questions and moral dilemmas and I love it for that and for so much more.
For starters, Jasmine Batchelor is impeccable in this film, she truly commands the emotional labour of being a pregnant m/c black woman who is morally and socially conscious and sensitive to catering to other people's needs and comfortabilities. Throughout the development of the film and her own character, Jess learns to be less accommodating of privileged able bodied people's comfortabilities and spaces and to open up the discussion for the advocation, support and enrichment of educating oneself more towards disabilities and disabled people's perspectives and lives, learning how and why they deserve to be treated as equals, no matter how chromosomes may differ or what preconceived limitations the majority of society may place upon them.
Metaphorically speaking, Jess guides us through her own journey as if we are being shaped in her own womb as learners and empaths in her appreciation for her own child and others who live with deficiencies. She does not have an idealistic ideology or mindset that parenthood is easily manageable and controllable, in fact she acknowledges that parenthood is inescapably difficult several times across the span of her journey and it makes her even more palatable as a character.
The tensions in the film are brilliantly conveyed, the intersectionality of being black and middle class v upper class v working class, is essentially communicated and the complicated nature of relationships are realistically portrayed and explored. And even with its final shot, it tugs you at your heart strings on how calming contraceptive experiences can be as well as complex, strenuous and difficult.
