International Review of Educational Cinematography (Jan-Dec 1934)

THE EDUCATIONAL FILM IN THE WORLD OF LABOUR 739 films, by singling out different phases, will show more clearly the abnormal features of certain constantly repeated occupational movements or certain attitudes imposed by the work, and how they can impair the development of a growing subject. Schematic representation could be employed to show deformities of the skeleton or internal organs not ordinarily visible and, by contrasting the deformed with the normal state, make it easy to understand how deformities may adversely affect childbearing. These methods have been successfully employed for sex instruction and campaigns against venereal diseases. They should be suitably adapted for a campaign against the risks that certain forms of industrial work entail for maternity. This preventive campaign would be all the more useful because in many cases by merely slightly modifying working methods it would be easy to attenuate, or even eliminate, the danger inherent in certain work: the fitting of a new device on a machine might save the woman operating it from having to stand, or sit, or stoop all day; a more rational organisation of the workshop might do away with the carrying of loads, etc., etc. Thus, by bringing home in a striking manner the serious drawbacks of certain methods of work that are liable to injure young girls in such a way as to impair motherhood, the film would unquestionably make for a reform of these methods. The remoteness of the danger and the slow if relentless attack on the system are liable to conceal the truth, and consequently it is all the more desirable to utter a timely warning to working women and to those responsible for this aspect of their health. But other risks also are run by working women during pregnancy itself; these are more apparent. Neverthless, even at this time ignorance is a source of injury to the health of both mother and child. Here again the method of photographs combined with schematic explanations can bring out the movements, positions and pressures liable to injure them. It would be easy in this way to prove the great need for the general introduction of medical supervision of expectant mothers. This is compulsory in some countries and in others there are some interesting examples due to private initiative. For instance, the transfer of the expectant mother from her ordinary work to work that is suited to her condition might avoid much suffering and perhaps, if effected in good time, save an infant life. Photographic analysis of the heavy work of many women workers would demonstrate the great value of the provision in the Washington Convention establishing six weeks' rest before and six weeks' after childbirth. B) The second part of the programme of cinematographic education that could be imagined in this domain is certainly more attractive. It is always painful to lay suffering bare, but there is infinite felicity in depicting the benefits of institutions that help to surround the child's entry into the world with happiness. There is material for charming pictures in all that is being done to this end in the different countries. First, the institutions attached to the factory: the arrival of the young mother at the factory nursery with her precious burden; the reception of the babies by nurses or social assistants who take care of them in ideally hygienic surroundings, while the mother is working; the various incidents of the baby's day in the nursery where he receives every attention from experienced specialists — the daily bath, the weekly weighing, and rational food at fixed hours if the mother herself does not nurse him between spells of work; the dormitory full of cradles in orderly rows where, changed into fresh linen on their arrival, the mites sleep peacefully; the playroom where they romp protected from accidents by suitable equipment. There are also children's playgrounds or places where children are minded after school hours until their mothers return home from work, so that they are not exposed to all the dangers of running the streets. Then there are pre-natal or infant consulting dispensaries; mothers' dining