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SYNOPSIS:
A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative
power of art, the Academy Award Born Into Brothels is a portrait
of eight unforgettable children who live in Calcutta's red
light district where their mothers work as prostitutes.
Spurred by the kids' fascination with her camera, Zana Briski,
a New York-based photographer documenting life in the brothels,
decides to teach them photography. As the children begin to
look at and record their world through new eyes, they awaken
for the first time to their own immense talents and sense
of worth.
Film makers Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski capture the way
in which beauty can be found in even the seemingly bleakest
and most hopeless of places and how art and education can
empower children to transform their lives.
MOVIE
REVIEW
Born
Into Brothels had always gave the impression of the most depressing
title for a documentary and for folks who assumed that it
was about forced prostitution (like I had and had avoided
it for the longest time). So upon reading the quotes from
critics on the Dvd’s cover, stating that it’s
“Uplifting” and “Inspiring” , it’s
became intriguing to find out the reasons why this Oscar winning
documentary had received such accolades and how come it can
generate such positive quotes for such a depressive title.
The
focus in this documentary here was not about the impending
bleak future that these kids faces but an unexpected option
that opened up new possibilities and a chance to escape for
their parents’ fate.
Photographer
Zana Briski who was trying to capture the life in the brothels,
chanced upon these kids and out of the blue, decided to expose
these kids to photography. Like the butterfly effect theory,
this little action brought forth a series of life changing
events for these kids and her.
An
Oscar winning documentary, a photo exhibition by kids and
most importantly, a rare chance for these kids to escape their
fate became the result of one woman’s determination
even though it was obvious that she didn’t really had
the know-how.
Beside
the courageous act of going against tradition and red tapes,
another highlight of this documentary would be how they managed
to captured the kids’ talent in photography and their
bubbly characters that made each individual memorable and
likeable. Some of the kids’ talent in photography stood
out and were so outstanding that could make folks like us
who lived in the generally well to do environment, ashamed
of ourselves.
And in the midst of all this urgency to get these kids out
of the brothel with the help of their photos, this documentary
even managed to subtly include two blossoming romances that
are happening between the kids. If you need more clues, just
check the making of and it will be more apparent that which
couples got the hots for each other.
If there’s anything lacking from this documentary,
it would be the lack of emphasizing the dread future of these
kids if they are left staying in the brothels. Although it’s
apparent that what will happen to them if nothing is done
to help them, it felt that these kids were no different from
those kids that lived in any other slums in India. They are
poor and their living conditions are bad but somehow this
film never emphasize on the reason why they are in a worse
off situation than other poor kids in the country. Perhaps
it’s hard to shoot in the red light district without
protection or it might be hard to capture the woes of forced
prostitution but if there’s any nitpicking, this will
be the only flaw for this excellent documentary.
Last but not least, I seen documentaries that although might
had a general good intention for it’s production, somehow
came across that the film makers might have a few hidden agendas
of their own. Some might be for their own vanity sake and
others might just want to stir up the honest nest, going straight
for the controversy jugular. But after watching Born into
Brothels and the extras that comes with this dvd, I truly
felt that Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski did this documentary
truly out of their kindness and sincerity to help these kids.
Without a doubt, this is the most heartfelt documentary in
recent years and deserved to be recommended. High recommended.
SPECIAL FEATURES :
In certain ways, it felt that the film makers had
more to say about the kids that are born in the India brothels
but wasn’t able to squeeze them into the documentary
and the extras are a fine extension of the characters and
events that we had grown to love while watching the documentary.
Commentary
The
film makers, Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski share with more
anecdotes about the making of this documentary. Sharing on
insights of what happened behind the scenes and on what they
felt during these scenes. Although there are some repetitive
information that could be found in the other extras, It’s
still very much an informative one and amusing at times that
make this commentary one of the most entertaining ever heard
on recent dvds.
Theatrical Trailer
Always an important extra to me that people often
felt redundant. What’s the point of having a trailer
when whatever it contains will be included in the film itself?
It’s purpose was to alert people about this film and
since this dvd copy is already in one’s hand, is it
still necessary to include a segment for the trailer?
Yes, as trailer often bears the marks of editing and sometime
a different style of editing for the trailer could means a
different perception for this film earlier on. Sometimes a
trailer would also contain segments that had been edited out
from the final finished product and across the span of many
years; it would be interesting to note how different trailers
are made.
Therefore
a trailer segment is more important than you think it is.
Reconnecting with the Kids, 3 Years Later
Chances are, if you are reading till this segment
or selected this segment on the dvd (and not tasked to review
this dvd), you probably enjoyed the documentary and would
be interested to find out what happened to the kids after
the documentary ended.
This
reunion brought forth some unexpected outcomes for the kids
and somehow the juicy stuff that some folks might want to
know, was played down and passed off with just a mere mention.
The others did well and it’s inspiring to learn that
they persisted on their endeavors. Nevertheless, it’s
as heartwarming to see the film makers meeting with the kids
after three years and genuine kind love could be thoroughly
felt here.
Special Video Commentary by the Kids Watching Selected
Scenes of the Film
Here
we got an impromptu segment that wonderfully captures the
kids’ reaction to the documentary about them. Not as
informative as the film makers’ commentary but their
reaction here is a priceless companion to this documentary.
Some moments made them burst into laughter and some brought
back unbearable memories of the past that made some of them
wept. It just re emphasize that this documentary is about
the subjects and not film maker’s bid for fame. One
of the best segments in the extras segments.
Deleted Scenes
Divided
into 7 segments with each segment titled to give the viewers
an idea what the segment would be about.
The
first segment shows the kids having fun at a swimming pool,
the second one show them visiting a photo lab to learn more
about the mechanics of developing a film. The third one is
titled Bob Pledge, giving more screen time for the interaction
between him and the kids. Mamoni, shows one of the kids that
was not featured in the main bunch of kids in the documentary
and the Amnesty international calendar reveals more of the
kids’ photos that had been selected for the calendar.
The Internet segment shows the kids being exposed to the wonders
of the internet ( … not the porn sites … but )
ability to access photo galleries. Finally, the Amoebas segment
shows Zana Briski having fun with her cucumber, weird but
fun stuff.
About Kids with Camera
A page on what is the Kids with Camera about
and it contains a weblink for people who are interested to
make a donation or learn more about this special group.
Academy award acceptance speech
A
rare feature to be found in a Dvd Extra segments and it was
interesting to see which other documentaries were Born Into
Brothels up against and their heartfelt message after winning
the award.
Interview
segment with Charlie Rose
It
seems that every good movie that I came across would include
an interview segment with Charlie Rose (With the last memorable
one being the Shawshank Redemption). Although relatively short,
it covers some interesting information such as the kids reaction
to the Academy Awards victory to the reasons why Zana Briski
went on to make this documentary and how it had ultimately
change her life.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
This
documentary is presented in full screen format. Due to the
lightings and cameras used, some bits were rather grainy which
actually add more flavor to this documentary. This dvd comes
with 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround and 2.0 Dolby Digital Stero
with removable English and Chinese Subtitles.
MOVIE
RATING:
DVD
RATING :
Review
by Richard Lim Jr
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