FemmeFilmFest20 Review: Haolu Wang’s The Pregnant Ground

Pregnancy and birth are often not discussed in society, other than for the expected highlight reel: pregnancy announcement, gender reveal, baby name announcement, etc, etc, etc. However, there are extremely low points that surround a woman’s body and well-being before, during, and after pregnancy.

In recent years women all over the world, from diverse backgrounds and all walks of life have been more open and honest about their experiences with pregnancy and motherhood. Making sure to include the not so instagram-worthy moments as well. The Pregnant Ground explores an extremely intimate loss of a child at birth and the struggles of dealing with that loss through a lens of a guilt-ridden, isolated, and childless-mother. 

The entirety of the 24-minute short gives the viewer a feeling of walking on eggshells. Tense and uneasy from the beginning, the film opens with a very pregnant woman and her husband swimming at an indoor pool. From here on out, water, the presence of and lack thereof, both play a major role in the development of the themes in the narrative.

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The husband encourages his wife to take it easy and rest as her baby-filled belly breaks the surface of the water, she reassures him she wants to continue to swim. Amidst the chaos of children playing in the pool, the water around the woman begins to turn red and bloody.

Immediately we are transported to a cold, blue hospital setting where it is confirmed the baby is gone. Unemotional at this realization, the mother wants nothing to do with the child, as the father caresses the lifeless baby. 

The days following this loss, the couple is faced with shared and individual struggles. Guilt and blame are at the forefront of these struggles. The grandmother to-be provides no comfort for her daughter and instead tears her down by claiming her age could be at fault for this loss. The husband/father separately adds to this blame, but only through a nightmare. Unknowing neighbors confront the issue silently, and then at the understanding of what happened offer a sincere but empty apology.

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As she begins to imagine that the ground below their home is pregnant, the construction workers give absolutely no sympathy toward her–solely focused on their task at hand and the completion of the project. Much like the rest of the world continues about their lives with no sympathy or consideration.

She then completely immerses herself in the trauma and grief to help herself come to terms with the loss. The creative way this psychological aspect is presented visually is what makes it so unique and outright emotional storytelling. 

Evenly paced, beautifully shot, thought-provoking, and at times terrifying, The Pregnant Ground will take you on a journey of coping with a loss in an unmerciful world. Hopefully, this story will encourage more like it to be told and can provide a place where people can be more empathetic to understanding traumatic loss of life at childbirth, a taboo and unexplored topic.