"Baby God" (2020 release; 77 min.) is a documentary about Quincy Fortier, a Las Vegas doctor who used his own sperm to inseminate fertility patients without their knowledge or consent. As the movie opens, we hear in a voice over "I was 22 and all my friends had babies." The lady's quest led her to Fortier's Womens Hospital, and just like that, she had a baby girl who looked nothing like the baby's real life dad. The movie then morphs to today, and that baby girl became Wendy, an investigative cop who orders a DNA kit and much to her shock finds out on the Ancestry website that her biological dad is this Fortier fella... At this point we are 10 min. into the film.
Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut of director Hannah Olson (previously a long time documentary producer). Here she assesses the consequences of a rogue doctor who uses his own sperm in his fertility clinic without telling any of the female patients. This is in and of itself a shocking idea, but for some reason the documentary doesn't really convey the shock of that idea. While Olson focuses a lot on Wendy's story, the director also interfaces others who are in the same boat as Wendy. At some point, Wendy laments that "the monster is living in me", and when you think about that for a second, that is a pretty tough situation to be in. Towards the end of the film (which runs just an hour and 15 min.), it appears a convention of sorts s taking place where all of the victims are gathering. Signs show which conference room to go, etc. But when all is said and done, it's just one table of maybe 6-7 people who have gathered. Yet Fortier violated hundreds if not thousands fertility patients. Something isn't adding up. In the end, "Baby God" isn't a "bad" documentary, but instead it feels like a missed opportunity to deliver a blistering indictment against these abuses.
"Baby God" was scheduled to premier at the 2020 SXSW film festival, which of course was canceled due to COVID-19. The film started showing on HBO in December, and is now available at HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you have any interest in this creepy human interest story, flaws and all, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
Couple of comments: this is the feature length debut of director Hannah Olson (previously a long time documentary producer). Here she assesses the consequences of a rogue doctor who uses his own sperm in his fertility clinic without telling any of the female patients. This is in and of itself a shocking idea, but for some reason the documentary doesn't really convey the shock of that idea. While Olson focuses a lot on Wendy's story, the director also interfaces others who are in the same boat as Wendy. At some point, Wendy laments that "the monster is living in me", and when you think about that for a second, that is a pretty tough situation to be in. Towards the end of the film (which runs just an hour and 15 min.), it appears a convention of sorts s taking place where all of the victims are gathering. Signs show which conference room to go, etc. But when all is said and done, it's just one table of maybe 6-7 people who have gathered. Yet Fortier violated hundreds if not thousands fertility patients. Something isn't adding up. In the end, "Baby God" isn't a "bad" documentary, but instead it feels like a missed opportunity to deliver a blistering indictment against these abuses.
"Baby God" was scheduled to premier at the 2020 SXSW film festival, which of course was canceled due to COVID-19. The film started showing on HBO in December, and is now available at HBO On Demand and other streaming services. If you have any interest in this creepy human interest story, flaws and all, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
