Aftershock Reviews

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since it was selected by IndieWire as one of the best movies released in 2022 so far, I thought I might as well check it out. I have to admit that I had no idea what it was about before watching the damned thing but, eventually, it turned out to be another appalling documentary dealing with the outrageous poor state of the healthcare system in the US today. This time, they focused on the staggering numbers of childbirth deaths among American black women and, well, these statistics were so bad, it made the US pretty much look like a third world country. Indeed, the death rate linked to childbirth is so much higher than any Western country and, when you focus on black women, the numbers goes up even more. It displayed once again that the excessive capitalism practiced in the United States is such a broken system (that it has inspired all the other countries in the world is such a pity, even a real shame, but that’s another discussion) as you get to see that the goal for many hospitals is to cut the costs by having a staggering number of C sections. However, C sections are not only really hazardous, even in the best case scenario, it is so traumatic for all the mothers involved. Basically, human lives, especially black lives, don’t really matter, only profits do. To be honest, even though the topic was really interesting, this movie was still missing something to become really fascinating though. On the other hand, you might wonder if a more artistical or fancy approach would have been really appropriate in this case though. Anyway, to conclude, even if it didn’t completely blow me away, it was still a strong documentary dealing with a very important subject and it is definitely worth a look.