Births have long been portrayed as a minor issue in film and television. ZDFneo's new “Push” series dispels clichés.
Scene from the series “Push”, midwife Nalan (Mariam Hage) on the right Photo: ZDF
The representation of births is such a thing. For a long, long time, the spectacle was limited to a small tug of the belly before and a resting mother in a clean nightgown and afterwards with a child in her arms – as in Fontane's “run and run” and then, that's it! , occurred.
Now other performances have come to the screen: the horror show “The Clock” (2023) about fertility treatments, for example, and the treatment of a tragic home birth in the chamber work “Pieces of a Woman” (2020 ). German television catches up and presents “Push” on ZDFneo, a series about birth that dares to do many things.
Six episodes follow experienced midwives Nalan (Mariam Hage) and Anna (Anna Schudt) and new midwifery student Greta (Lydia Lehmann) as they bring children into the world. It quickly becomes evident that this profession is about accompaniment, not guidance: during pregnancy, faced with all the questions for which neither the moment nor the environment seems appropriate to the doctor, the accompaniment during childbirth that implies “turning on, turn off and now press.” , couple accompaniment afterwards.
All of this is carried out by an overwhelming majority of working women, who still do most of the care work in their private lives. Anna's husband may move out if the marriage is stressed, Anna has to care for her son and grandson between her breech position and breastfeeding problems.
Each form of birth is given space.
There are no reproductions of the old stereotype of the angelic and altruistic woman with a hat and collar. Nalan and Anna don't float from bed to bed smiling calmly, but instead work their way through long shifts.
The public is not allowed a single FSK-0 birth with a few drops of blood and a little moaning. Sometimes the screams are so persistent and loud that it is difficult to see them. So we recommend that you pause, take a deep breath, and keep searching. “Push” is not a relaxing viewing experience, but it is extremely rewarding.
Some excessive clarifications (“She's a good doctor, but she acts like an old white man”) could have been dispensed with and the obligatory hospital issue with a dependency gap could have been omitted.
But when the calm and friendly Anna Schudt becomes vital to this once-in-a-lifetime situation, then between the television and the sofa an idea arises of what the ideal support for mothers (and couples) can be and how indispensable midwives are. balanced and safe. .
The common accusation that the world of midwives is hostile to conventional medicine is discussed, but not reproduced: space is given to every form of birth, the perspective is always brave, feminine and new. And despite what is explicit and everyday, the great miracle of a birth is even glimpsed through the screen.