Educational Media Reviews Online

Carrying an infant through pregnancy and giving birth surely count as among the most intense and painful experiences of a woman’s life. So, in considering the women who voluntarily go through this experience as surrogates for other parents, the primary question must be, why? That is one of the questions that this Swedish documentary, For Somebody Else, clearly seeks to resolve.

The film follows the experiences of three women in California (the only state where surrogacy is legalized at present) in examining their motivations and paths toward surrogate motherhood. Certainly, they each approach the endeavor from distinct perspectives. Although all possess at least some level of altruism as their incentive – one of them taking the selflessness prize in carrying the baby of a friend for no material gain, which she later regrets – two of the subjects are frank about their desire to improve their families’ finances through surrogacy.

The film allows the viewer to observe the subsequent course of their decision through all its preparation, anxiety, boredom, inconvenience and pain – both physical and emotional - all while managing their own families. And, as one subject observes, “Everyone’s outcomes are different,” nothing is guaranteed. But there is true heroism in their willingness to go through this elemental process, one more than once, on behalf of other parents longing for a baby. Recommended.

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