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BORN
INTO BROTHELS
review
by Terri Wall
In 1998 photographer Zana Briski went to Calcutta to photograph the prostitutes
in the Red Light District. She was amazed to find out how many children
lived in these brothels and became enchanted with many of them. She decided
to show those who were interested how to shoot pictures, then gave them
cameras and started giving them photography lessons. She managed to gather
together an extraordinary group of children who opened her eyes to a new
way of seeing the world through a camera. Her experiences, the children's
experiences and the children's actual photographs form the basis of
this amazing documentary which was just recognized by the Motion Picture
Academy as Best Documentary of the Year.
What makes this film so fascinating, and at the same time heart-breaking,
is the children themselves and the joy they find in life juxtaposed against
the knowledge that these children have almost no hope of escaping the
fate of following their parents into lives of prostitution and crime.
In reality, many of the girls that Zana met had already been sold into
prostitution by their families and it was considered inevitable that all
of the girls would eventually 'join the line' of prostitutes.
Zada realizes that their only slim chance for a decent life is education
and she works valiantly to get them into boarding schools - an almost
impossible task since these schools are not open to the children of criminals
and that is exactly what these children's parents are.
Zada's efforts are thwarted by Government red tape as well as by the
children's families' superstitions, fears and desperate poverty.
Many will not let their children leave the brothels because they are needed
to provide monetary help for the families. In one of the most moving moments
of the film, one girl tells Zana that her mother cannot go to the photography
exhibition which Zana has arranged and which may possibly start the children
on a road to a better life, because they cannot afford to pay 25 cents
to someone to watch the baby for the evening. In another extremely emotional
occurrence, the most talented of the boys, who has been invited to go
to Amsterdam to represent India at an international children's photography
school, loses his joyful love of life and interest in photography after
a tragic event. Whether he will accept admission into the boarding school
Zana has worked so hard to secure for him, or whether he will just give
up, provides the emotional high point of the film.
Many of these children are doomed to the fates they were born into but
many of them are given a chance to get away thanks to Zana's help.
How these children handle the circumstances of their lives is what makes
this film so memorable. It is extremely up-lifting and proves how much
one person can accomplish.
Born
Into Brothels was Written and Directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman.
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