Movie Review- Born into Brothels

This is an incredible documentary about children who are born in brothels in Calcutta, India. It documents their lives and the efforts of Zana Briski to help them through teaching them photography. I was not totally clear if she intended to become as involved as she did, but beyond teaching them photography, she also went to great lengths to get them out of the red-light district of Calcutta and into boarding schools, so that they had other opportunities other than prostitution or other illegal activities. The film has all of the elements needed, it is both sad and happy. These children live in such poverty and yet many of them mention that this is their life and they do know of any other way to live. In fact one of them, says something to the effect that life is supposed to be hard and sad. But these children also have a real desire to show their lives and the conditions in which they are living. One of the young boys mentions that this is the dirtiest places he has ever seen. He talks about how everywhere there are dirty dishes there are also shoes. These children truly were incredible artists. Yes they were taught how to use a camera and there are scenes where Zana is talking to them about composition or other technical aspects, but still they were able to compose some amazing pictures that if you did not know better could easily be considered photographs by professionals. I was in awe of this movie and would recommend this movie highly. Also if you want to see some of the photographs and learn more about the project that Zana Briski among others started, go to this site.