Der lange Weg ans Licht - Eine Hebamme erzählt

In her professional life, Edeltraut Hertel moves on different continents. As a midwife, she accompanies German and Tanzanian women during birth. At first, it does not make much difference to them where a child is born. Whether in Germany or Tanzania, for Hertel, even after twenty years of professional experience, it is always poignant to be there and not to be "thrown out the door" when the miracle happens. But in Hertel's hometown Meerane, how a birth is to be cared for is a very controversial issue. Expectant mothers have to decide not only between natural birth and caesarean: in a small town near Chemnitz, hospitals with alternative birthing methods compete for the patients as representatives of different medical views. Anyone who dares to promise women a virtually pain-free birth is accused by the competitors of "birth-beating". Among the midwives, the sharp decline in the birth rate in Germany is quite tangible. Through her profession, Edeltraut Hertel also comes into contact with the difficult ethical conflicts, such as abortion and prenatal diagnosis. Hertel has a a perspective that not everyone has: she knows how European and African cultures can learn from each other in their treatment of pregnancy. With a great deal of sensitivity and a sense for bizarre things, Douglas Wolfsperger's documentary accompanies the midwife in her professional life and also lets doctors, mothers and fathers have their say.