In 1993, Gail Ritchey was merely a 22-year-old woman from a conservative area of Ohio. Crawling itself out from her disturbing life, Baby Doe, a new empathetic film, traces her eerie tale, where she gave birth in a restroom, denied her pregnancy, and discarded the newborn in a forest. The gripping film that feels like a true crime documentary poses the intriguing question - not about the identity of the murderer, but the motive behind it.
Fast forward to 2019, DNA tests identified Gail as the mother, followed by her charge for murder. Director Jessica Earnshaw, known for her riveting first feature, Jacinta (2020), met Gail two years later and effectively crafted Baby Doe, her subsequent feature. The film lures viewers into Gail's world, as we listen to her defend herself, showcasing surprising moments from her life and early years. However, the film's closeness and empathy towards Gail also bounds it, hindering it from fully exploring and conveying the broader issue of pregnancy denial.
Baby Doe is indeed a film advocating for compassion, led by Earnshaw's non-aggressive tone. It brilliantly lets Gail and those judging her express themselves. The biggest shock comes from Gail herself, who is now married to the father of the abandoned child and mother to three grown children. The woman appears as a church-going lady, peacefully spending her time with her family.
Most shockingly, the film shows police footage of Gail's arrest where she acknowledges why the police were there - "a baby that was left." Her detached, yet sincere response is deeply unsettling. A later interrogation reveals that Gail abandoned a child once before, leading to her charge for single murder as the body of the first child was never found.
The narrative continues to follow Gail to her trial. Interviews with her husband and children at their middle-class home portray her as a gentle, normal woman. Her interactions with her lawyers reveal her state of denial about her pregnancies.
Her strangely calm demeanor stumps everyone, including her lawyers. She admits to taking a pregnancy test and its positive result, but denies believing that she was pregnant. The film aims to transcend the viewers' initial confusion, unveiling key findings like how women in denial about their pregnancy can react desperately during childbirth and possibly repeat the behavior due to unresolved deep-rooted psychological issues.
Gail, a devout church-goer who abstained from pre-marital sex, exemplifies this description. She disconnected herself from her pregnancies, resulting in the newborns' fate. The film falls short of discussing her first child in detail, creating a void in the narrative.
Gail's monstrous behavior leads to her ending up in prison, as highlighted by the judge while dispensing a mandatory life sentence. Known as a respectable individual, the behavior is perceived as irrational, originating from a deep-seated psychological issue, as fascinatingly revealed by this insightful, intense documentary.
