"Born Into Brothels"

 

     This powerful documentary, Born into Brothels, takes place in Calcutta, India.  The directors, Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, wanted to take a closer look into the red light district in this poverty stricken area.  Initially, the director's intentions were to photograph the lives of the prostitutes living in the brothels.  After meeting several of the children that lived there she was inspired to shed light onto their day to day lives.  Her focus remained on the children and the harsh conditions of poverty, uncleanliness and abuse they lived in.  With the intention of involving the children in something positive, Zana began to teach the children about photography.  She gave them each a camera of their own to photograph the world through their eyes.  Immediately the children begin to show a tremendous amount of talent with their new found art.  As their photography advanced Zana organized exhibitions to showcase their work.  By the end of the film, Zana managed to arrange for most of the children to attend boarding schools.  Unfortunately, some of the children were unable to leave the brothels and some of the one's that did, returned shortly after.   A few, went on to continue their education, and even receive good grades.  This was most likely the true reward for Zana.  To see these children excel just because they were given a chance at their dreams.    
     The main theme in this film is hope.  Zana instills an enormous amount of hope in these children and works hard to inspire them.  Letting them know that with her help they can be whoever they want to be by getting an education.  She opens their eyes to the world around them at first through the lens of a camera, but then allows them to see the bigger picture, and to have dreams.  
     This film pulled at my heart strings and was truly an inspiration.  These two directors were determined to shed light on these children for the world to see the conditions they were living in and how they were being treated.  They also genuinely wanted to help them, by removing them from a toxic environment, giving them a new life, and an education.  But most importantly hope for a better tomorrow.