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Film Review
Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids
By: Mary Elise Chavez
Posted Wednesday, July 12th, 2006

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In 2004, the Oscar-nominated and Academy-award winning documentary Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids was released; a collaboration between American photographer Zana Briski and Cinematographer Ross Kauffman.

This film stands as one of the most provocative yet inspiring pieces executed through means of unveiling a sad truth within a world of sex and exploitation. Briski's talents as a powerful photographer shine brightly and assist in the intrigue set forth in this film.

The innocence of a child is one of the most precious gifts they hold, but what happens what that innocence is violently and forcefully ripped away from them? What happens when a child, is forced into the world of prostitution, unstable family life, and has to deal with a lack of proper education. One would assume they would believe the world is against them. However, Briski's film highlights eight incredible children who somehow have preserved their enthusiasm and vigor for life.

London-born Briski, who moved to New York to further pursue her photography career, began living in Calcutta in 1998. She wasn't sure why she was brought to India until a friend led her into the red-light district. It was then when she realized photographing the women (prostitutes) was why she was there. She was offered a room by one of the prostitutes and began to build relationships with the women. In between "client" visitations, she talked with them on a more human level. She was able to create a trust with these women, and in turn, they opened their lives to her.

As this film progresses, she begins to teach the children of these mothers photography by providing them with cameras. Unlike the mothers, the children gained a liking to her immediately. It was then when she wanted to see life through their eyes using photography. She put down her camera, and picked up a video camera to document the children's experiences with photography.

The images produced by the children are incredibly striking, as the camera acts as an inside look into their world, as they know it. Briski later created the organization, Kids with Cameras; a non-profit organization to help educate the children of Calcutta's brothels, and to empower other marginalized children around the world through photography.

The children, mostly fatherless, live with their mothers who are prostitutes in the red-light district of Calcutta. There is no trace of family life or love from their mothers, as most of them are extremely vulgar, unloving, forceful, and abusive towards them. Beyond the lack of a family life, the children have difficulty receiving a proper education. Many of the mothers expect their daughters to folllow suit as a prostitute. Briski deals with the unorganized Indian government in an effort to help the children get closer to a solid education, but she continually runs into numerous obstacles.

Documentary films of this nature are rare. What makes Briski's film so intriguing is the light that is not only shed on southeast Asia, but the children as well; the lives of children that are born into filth, and often times, live their entire lives within the damp and dismal walls of these brothels.

For more information on the lives of children in Calcutta, and the film "Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids" in it's entirety, please visit the following sources:

www.kids-with-cameras.org
IMDb Movie Database (IMDb.com)

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