Review: On the future of childbirth, ‘The Pod Generation’ plays it as safe as a helicopter parent

It’s easy to agree with the premise of Sophie Barthes’ gleaming, quasi-dystopian “The Pod Generation”: With every technological advance, we’re leeching what’s natural from our lives, and letting the simulations take over. In Barthes’ uneasy yet relatable vision of the big city’s near-future, smart homes wake people up with a perky virtual assistant announcing the status of gut health and something called a “bliss index.” Citizens congregate at breathing stations, and therapy sessions are literally talking to a wall. Rachel is a high-powered corporate type working merrily toward furthering this world, introducing her team to their latest breakthrough: desktop machine-learners with big roving eyeballs she calls “cognitive executives.” The employees’ frozen smiles speak volumes, but Barthes has one vocalize it anyway: “Are we at risk of becoming redundant?” Meanwhile, Rachel’s botanist husband Alvy isn’t so thrilled by this societal direction, which favors time spent in electronically controlled “nature pods” to actual trips to the country. Alvy’s students even seem put off by nature itself: One of them, in a genuinely funny moment, responds to the prospect of eating a just-plucked fig with a fearful, “But it’s from a tree, professor.” Rosalie Craig in the movie “The Pod Generation.” Are we surprised, then, that Rachel and Alvy are at odds over how to have a baby?