Born Into Brothels
Movie Reviewby Shannon Whiting
Passionate photographer Zana Briski had set out to capture the stories of brothel women in northern Calcutta.
“It’s almost impossible to take photos in the red light district,” she says in the beginning of her documentary, Born Into Brothels.
This problem soon resolves itself through eight pairs of small and eager hands. Briski quickly forms a small class of eight of the children born to the brothels, filling the empty, eager hands with cameras. Released to northern Calcutta’s streets and their homes, the eight children snap priceless photographs that few others could capture.
Through the creative and spontaneous lenses of the children, the lives of those in Calcutta’s red-light district are unveiled.
“Nobody lives as filthily as we do in our country,” says 10-year old Gour. “Wherever there are dirty plates, we find shoes next to them. In no other country have I seen this. That is why I like photography. I want to put across the behavior of man.”
From her students’ viewpoints, “Zana Auntie” soon sees more than the content of their photos, but the hopelessness of their futures.
“One has to accept life as sad and painful, that’s all,” says Tapasi, one of Briski’s students who clings to photography as a future source of income for herself and her sister.
Shy 11-year-old Kochi—made to run errands until 11 p.m. and slated to join the brothel line—says, “I keep thinking, if I could go somewhere else and get education, I wonder what I could become.”
Briski’s mission soon expands from photography class to boarding schools for each one of the children. She finds this to be a nearly impossible goal, as she searches for a place that will accept a student from the red-light district.
“No place is the right place,” one boarding school’s nun tells Briski, “that’s the problem. Who will take them?”
Yet, Briski, though neither social worker nor teacher, relentlessly pursues stubborn parents, disorganized legal offices and skeptical admissions directors to fulfill her promise to her young photographers.
For as sobering as their stories are, Briski and camera man Ross Kauffman beautifully capture the vibrant life the brothel children radiate when given a simple artistic venue.
Briski’s interspersing raw black and white photography of the brothels in the beginning of the movie is later replaced by the playful color photos taken by her “kids.”
“When I have a camera in my hands, I feel happy,” Suchitra says. “I feel I am learning something…I can be someone.”
To the rhythms and melodies of traditional Indian music, Briski and Kauffman bring to the Western world eight personalities—from fearless and happy Puja to naturally skilled Avijit—that can only win hearts over.
With its "continuing story" ending, this Oscar-winning documentary is not set out to manipulate emotions. Instead, it simply tells an honest portrayal of a hopeless culture and the redemptive power of art. Born Into Brothels is not just a moving watch, but an effective instruction on the number of simple ways hope can be shared, one person at a time.
“This is a good picture,” Avijit says in his classroom critique of a photo. “We get a good sense of how these people live. And though there is sadness in it and though it’s hard to face, we must look at it because it is truth.”
Unless otherwise noted, all materials on the urbana.org web site are Copyright InterVarsity Christian Fellowship / USA. All rights reserved.
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