Born Into Brothels (2004)
When you look at the poster for Born Into Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids you cannot miss the many logos from the most prestigious movie awards (2005 Academy Award® – Best Documentary Feature, 2004 Sundance Film Festival® – Audience Award: Documentary, Grand Jury Prize: Documentary nominee). It looks like it did get some attention. With these in mind I decided last night to “waste” more than one hour watching it.
The red light district in Calcutta is known for its misery, drug dealing, alcohol, poverty and of course prostitution. In such a place, with no chance for any contraception, “work accidents” happen. These “accidents” have to live there, clean in the shacks (cannot call these homes), exit the room when their mothers are “working”, put up with abuse and absolutely zero chance for an education and a life out of there. The kids who are around the age of ten are heading for the same lives as their mothers and grandmothers. The girls are forced into prostitution the moment they hit puberty, we don’t find out about the boys, but they seem to share a similar destiny.
Among all these people, some of the kids are brilliant and would deserve another chance.
This is what Zana Briski (the creator, also a photographer) thinks too. She’s been there for a while, trying to take pictures of the people who live in that miserable area. Of course, being “white” and carrying a camera, doesn’t help with her blending in. Anyway, while doing her job, she is drawn to the kids. The brothels in Calcutta are filled with children. They are naughty, and smart and smile, even if their lives don’t quite qualify for the “funniest lives award”.
She gives them cameras and guides them to photograph. The new materials help her in the job, while the kids start learning about photography. They learn to comment on a photo, understand what makes one beautiful and all kinds of technical details.
You can imagine how fascinated the little ones are and how they “work” to get the best pictures they can. Some of them says something that just breaks your heart “we like to take photos more than we like to work”. They have to clean, wash dishes, carry water and put up with cursing and beatings. This is their escape from their sinister lives. Imagine it or not, these little photographers develop nicely and some get absolutely amazing pictures. They can see the beauty in the misery surrounding them and their pictures are (some) absolutely remarkable.
One of them, Avijit (a boy), shows so much talent he wins an Amsterdam trip. Getting him the papers and then a passport is an extreme experience, because of the huge bureaucracy and the fact he is a prostitute’s child. Briski starts preparation to get papers and health documents for all “her” kids, in her desperate attempt to get them to boarding schools so that they can get an education.
Some of these kids are not allowed to leave home, some are taken back by the parents, some leave the boarding school to return home. One runs from home to the school and few are still there, trying to learn and change their destiny.
The documentary speaks of a world that gives no chance to these kids. Most of them might be dead now or with years of being “on the line”, and few might have gone through some years in school. Only very few can become something else than “meat” in the red lights district.
It’s a sad and yet remarkable documentary about humanity and second chances. And misery taken to an extreme. It will leave you with tears in your eyes, but it’s definitely worth watching and recommending.
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