jackofall.blogspot

Atlast i got to see Born into brothels.Came to know that i had missed the Q&A with Ross Kauffman, the co-director of the documentary.This oscar winning documentary is set in the calcutta sonagachi red light area.I don't know whether the documentary will make the same impact on indians as it had done with the foreigners.

Zana Briski who came to shoot a documentary in the red light district is not able to shoot it because of the camera shy people out there. she tries to capture their lives through the eyes of the children’s of prostitutes. She trains them and takes them on trips to develop their photographic skills. Avijit one of the kid, get's to go to amsterdam for a children photographic exhibition. Zana tries to put them into a boarding school, except for one girl & a guy everybody else drop out of the school.

I think they could have bettered in the editing area. The scenes of prostitutes and the red light area are very hazy. Not sure whether it was deliberately done or because they shot with a low-resolution digital camera. When the children’s are interviewed, they tell us how even they have to end up in prostitution business when they grow up, about their dope fathers, prostitute mothers and there doomed future. There is a scene where two prostitutes have a verbal duel in a dingy building; they speak the most chosen of bad words. That show's the kind of an environment the children’s are growing up.Then the scene shift to the children’s outing in the beach. A sunny day, the open sea, blue sky, the very expressive puja frolicking in the beach and her big grin suddenly puts all your worries about their future and wretched life into the abyss. She is like a pure flower in a garbagge dump.



I wish zana didn't come in the documentary. I felt as if she was trying to take credit for all that she was doing for the childrens.She accepts that she is not a social worker and she can only do a few things. But looks like the success of the documentary and the oscars have made her into a social worker. Check out the Kids with camera foundation. Is she another Dominique Lapierre in the making?.

Kids photo gallery