Born into Brothels (2004)

I just got finished watching Born Into Brothels. Someone did a presentation on it in my history of documentary class last semester and it inspired me to see the whole thing.

It won at Sundance in 2004 for Best Documentary and at the Academy Awards in 2005 for under the same category. The documentary is about children in Calcutta's red light district. All of the subjects of the film are living in brothels with their families and are at risk of being put to work on the streets themselves. The film follows one of its directors, Zana Briski, through her mission of trying to teach the children photography and get them into boarding schools.

By using the children's photography Briski and Kauffman tell the story with the children and do not limit them to being only subjects. It is no coincidence that the film only received such attention after the outstanding international interest in the photographs of the children.

The film makes no attempt to tackle the issue of prostitution and I think that was a wise choice, since prostitution only acts in the film as the inescapable reality of the children. For the children, it is a problem that always was and always will be.