Whores' Glory

Whore's Glory is a documentary about prostitution. There is no voice over, no narration, no script. It merely records a visual documentation of the lives of prostitutes in three different venues (located in Thailand, Bangladesh and Mexico).

Of course the film was edited, but other than that, it provides an unfiltered view of prostitution. It focuses on the prostitutes themselves, enough so that the viewer sees the conditions they live in/under. They sometimes talk to the camera. We learn of their sorrows, their problems, and how they deal with the realities of prostitution.

In Thailand, the girls do not seem as victimized. Oddly, some of them spend much of their money on the "bar boys" who entertain women for money.

In Bangladesh, these women are truly victims of economic hardship. Women bring their daughters into the business. Society is so stratified that people's choices are limited. The caste system still controls much of life there.

Because the camera is just an observer, there is no glorification of the job. In all three locations, waiting is a large part of the job. Religion and superstitious mysticism play a part in the women's lives, just as for others in their societies.

One woman in Bangladesh who comes across as more sensitive, perhaps more intelligent explains the horrible reality she must confront every day, saying "Women are unhappy creatures." Philosophically, she wonders why it is that way and how it can change.

Might be my favorite documentary of all time - it really makes you feel the sorrow behind these poor women.

I wasn't sure what to expect when my wife picked out this movie to watch but man was this movie ever thought provoking and interesting. What makes the film unique is that there is no narration or cuts to "experts" and hardly any interviews. The camera is more or less a fly on the wall. The only negative this is that the depressing music is cranked a little too high in the mix and is really obtrusive at times.

The movie covers prostitution in Thailand, Bangladesh and Mexico. The documentary in specific looks at a midrange operation in Thailand and a sad and depressing filthy brothel in Bangladesh with young girls, and a low rent operation in Mexico. The movie is very effective.

Some complain that he isn't painting a fair picture of prostitution leaving out the nice clubs in Amsterdam and Nevada. In fact in the Mexican town you can see a big building in many scenes with the word Lipstick on it. This is a nice strip club with good looking girls who you can take upstairs for about five times what the girls who make it into the documentary charge, but instead he shows a sorry strip club with very disturbing looking girls and the low rent section of the Tolerance Zone with crack ladies of the night.

If he just showed the glitzy brothels, this movie wouldn't have nearly the same impact as it does. The Thai joint is the only glitzy joint here with hairdressers and makeup people dolling them up before the night. The Bangladesh and Mexican places don't even have running water and the girls are lucky if they even have a mirror.

Bottom line: this movie is really great. Even my wife liked it and she usually hates documentaries and anything with subtitles... I am glad that she picked it out. Only the music detracts from this moving documentary.

Whores' Glory is a difficult, essential watch. It strips away the judgment and the exoticism often tied to this profession, leaving only the grim, repetitive, soul-crushing reality. You leave the film haunted, not by judgment, but by a deep, helpless sorrow for the girls-the ones whose youth was consumed by poverty, the ones whose bodies became commodities, and the ones who had no other path. This is a powerful, if painful, tribute to the resilience and the quiet, desperate humanity of women surviving in the world's oldest and most unforgiving trade. It is a film that makes you mourn for their lost innocence and their confined destinies.

This feeling escalates into a genuine, helpless heartbreak during the Bangladesh segment. Confined to a walled-off, desolate community, the extreme poverty and the sheer youth of some of the girls are devastating. They are trapped in unsanitary, brutal conditions, often sold into the work by their own families. You see the tired, resigned faces, the hardened cynicism already setting in on those who should still be children. Their dreams, when articulated, are heartbreakingly small-a hope of simply escaping the cycle, a quiet yearning for a life that feels impossibly far away. The pity is overwhelming; their struggle is not just against men, but against the systemic failure of the world.

...but it is important. It has stuck with me, & over the years, I've thought about these women. If a movie sticks with you, then it succeeded. And this movie succeeded.

Any reviewer who didn't "like" this, missed the point. And as for that "top" review, who said the film makers didn't delve into the prostitutes lives enough, what makes you think their profession didn't dominate their daily existence? Sex work would taint bonding with others, except for the small few that share in their mutual destruction (other prostitutes, other addicts, etc). This is an important movie, everyone should watch. (And how can you be have the top review with 36 down votes?)