Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids

You'd have to have a heart of stone not to be moved a little by the kids and their circumstances in this story. Born into Brothels serves as sort of a basic litmus test for empathy: if you can't say to yourself 'that could've been me, in some other time or place or by some other stroke of chance or luck or what have you', then you shouldn't go near these movies (or perhaps movies in general).

I don't know many countries where the difference between rich and poor is as stark and hard to accept as it is in India. The facts do not lie: it is the country that, alone, concentrates a substantial part of the gold and precious stones from all over the world.

This documentary is a very intimate look into the lives of children who have been brought up in poverty in the red-light district of Kolkata. The approach is definitely quite close to the subjects as the camera follows them and the children take a lot of photos themselves.

Born into brothels is a very innovative idea for the documentary. Zana Briski has done justice with such a topic being picked up for the documentary.

I am normally not overly keen on watching documentaries, but I was given the chance to watch the 2004 documentary "Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids" from directors Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman. The concept of the documentary did sound interesting enough, so I sat down to watch it.

The eight children who grew up in the brothel changed their world because of the photographer's intervention. Photographers encourage them to take pictures of the world in their eyes through the camera and love photography.

When I watched it a few years ago, I was thinking that the smiles of these children when taking pictures are really contagious, really from the heart. But in the end, nothing can change, how cruel or cruel life should be.

The life of the kids born in brothel are in itself is dark and painful. A beautiful portrayal of this reality by photographer Zana Briski.

Desperate and cynical as I am, I really want the virtual badge for rating all the Oscar Winners from 2005, but I didn't want to cheat. I wanted to actually watch the films and write a proper review, not just chuck on a random score.