Cultural Event 3: Born Into Brothels

The Film “Born into Brothels” is a movie that paints a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta, where their mothers work as prostitutes. NY based photographer, Zana Briski, gives these children cameras and teaches them to look at the world with new eyes. Essentially all the children in these Calcutta slums become victims of their environment. Girls have it the worst being forced into prostitution at unacceptable young age.

            The slums of Calcutta are a place where having your picture taken is frowned upon by many of the locals. Many of them are afraid to be found out, ashamed of their low life style. The children of the Calcutta Brothels are the only ones uncorrupted, innocent, fighting for a future. Even at age ten they know their fate, they know that a chance for a future is slim, but their dreams are very much alive. They say accepting poverty and sadness is just a way of life for them. Briski comes to Calcutta because she feels a connection to the women, and upon her arrival her focus shifts to the children. She provides cameras for a select few children from the brothels in order to see the real Calcutta through “their” eyes.

            Many of the children are teased and shunned for their participation in photographing their neighborhood, but despite the verbal abuse they continue. Aside from the photography, Briski is using the pictures as a tool to help some of the children escape the slums of Calcutta through their beautiful photography. She examines the lives of several children giving the viewer a real life experience in the daily life of a low class Calcutta child. She follows them, interviews them, and asks them about their thoughts and experiences. “Born into Brothels” gives you an in depth experience of Calcutta life through images and observation of the children’s lives.

            Briski helps several of the children escape Calcutta through the expertise of their photography, and their potential as photographers. One of the boys, “Avijit” has his pictures shown at a photographer convention in Europe specifically focusing on his work.  Although she helps a few of the children get out of Calcutta’s brothels, thousands are destined to a life of poverty and prostitution. Briski’s efforts essentially do nothing for the big problem in Calcutta, but her work has brought attention to the issues there. She personally cannot solve the dilemma, but if enough people are concerned by her movie many of these children can be saved.