Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids

A great documentary, which reveals a sad Indian reality, it makes us think about human rights, especially children. The documentary carries shocking phrases especially because they are spoken by children. At last a great movie even being a sad story.

I often disagree with the academy award nominations. It's usually too political to nominate the best movies and performances of the year. Born Into Brothels is an exception, it was nominated and won! The only mistake was not nominating it for best picture.

Brothels is the story of a woman, Zana Briski, who traveled to Calcutta to photograph the brothels. She fell in love with the children and began teaching them photography. The movie is seen through their eyes.

The result is extraordinary in so many ways. Calcutta's red light district is interesting in and of itself. The setting is the first extraordinary feature. The filming makes you feel like you are there. Director Ross Kauffman captures the feeling of being trapped in dark allies with a dark future. Without a director commentary running though the film, you're able to see it all by the way it's been directed. The dark past and future of these families is presented in a beautiful and horrific way.

Secondly, the children are lovable. The story focuses on 8 or 9 children of prostitutes. Each one is unique. Some are incredibly funny, others serious, some are troubled, and at least one has an undeniable talent for photography. You'll leave the theater feeling like you know them.

This is documentary film at its best. It transports us to another country and makes us love the troubled children. What was troubling to me was having to leave the theater never to see these troubled children again. Putting aside the incredible movie-making abilities of these creators, Zana Briski is a true hero.

Greetings again from the darkness. Rarely does a documentary attract much of an audience ... that is unless it is one of the slanted visions of Michael Moore. Realizing not many will see "Brothels" leaves me feeling both saddened and anxious. What a remarkable story that Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman have brought to our world. The kids will capture your heart within the first few moments of the film. Although the story is definitely the kids, the hero is Ms. Briski. Her tireless efforts to give them hope and a way out should be enough motivation for each of us to realize we can make a difference in the world. This film pulls no punches in showing us the underbelly of one of Calcutta's red light districts and how it so impacts these families. The girls are resigned to the fact that it is their future. The boys are helpless to save their friends. Enter Ms. Briski with cameras in tow. You will feel so energized watching the children explore and capture their world through a lens. The photos are nothing short of stunning and were a hit at the World Festival a couple of years ago. Although not successful in saving them all, Ms. Briski did make a difference and provides a guiding light to us all.

This is a beautifully conceived and directed film. I knew little about the red light district of Calcutta and certainly nothing of the amazing children whose photographs are not only dramatic but also a tool of empowerment, albeit not entirely successful. One of the best documentaries of 2004. There certainly have been several excellent movies about the misery and hopeless nature of life in red light districts throughout the world, particularly southeast Asia. But this film's decision to focus on the children who not only are born in the brothels, but essentially live their entire lives within this damp and dismal walls. Director/photographer Zana Briski is to commended for bringing this to light. Several of my friends had deep empathy for her frustrating experiences with the Indian bureaucracy as she tries to get the children's art work noticed. Great film.

The film makers of this documentary take the viewer into areas that would have been off limits to anyone wanting to explore the life of the children of some Calcutta prostitutes. About ten children are showcased in the film as one of the directors of the documentary, Zana Briski, involves the children in something positive as she teaches them how to use the camera in capturing the world around them.

In gaining the children's confidence, they, in turn, tell us about how they see life in that hostile environment. Most of the girls shown in the film would probably end up in the same situation their mothers went through, as it appears life for them is a vicious circle in which there is no escape. For the boys, in spite of the natural talent shown as they take pictures, the mean streets of Calcutta don't promise much either.

As a documentary, Ms. Briski and Mr. Kauffman, show us how they were able to give the children a different way to look at life, but one wonders what has happened after they finished their work. Are these young girls and boys better off because this experience, or did they go back to the only way of life they knew about?

"Born into Brothels" is a sad commentary on our society at large, because where there is poverty, as it's the case in Calcutta, women will resort into the kind of life where they can get by without any education or skills. These women are actually the victims of a system that penalizes them for just being in the wrong place, at the wrong time.

Let's hope Ms. Briski and Mr. Kaufamn were able to instill in these young girls and boys the idea of looking for something better in their lives if they escape the poor surroundings in which they were born into.