From Our Strength: Two Births and Indigenous Identity in Cañar, Ecuador (2011)

Ecuador is a country of extraordinary beauty and diversity, captured in this stunning film about a group of indigenous women in the Andean Highlands. Documentary footage of two childbirths and intimate interviews disrupt assumptions about 'traditional' and 'modern.' The stories of mothers, midwives, and nurses trace the complex relationships between indigenous politics, social change, and health care choices. Why in spite of a strong resurgence of native midwifery in the past decade are women like Lucinda, Veronica, and Rosa choosing to give birth in hospitals rather than at home, electing pain medications and epidurals while respecting and desiring traditional practices? How does Mama Mariana, revered midwife and Ministry of Health nurse, convince the State to allow midwives to assist in births at the public hospitals?