Review of Born into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids (2004) by Michelle D — 20 Feb 2010

This film is a setup for accusations of exploitation, class tourism, and subjectivity.

It transcends all of these accusations - even post-John Waters's "Pecker" and Todd Solondz's "Storytelling" who so cleverly exploit documentary exploitation.

But "Born Into Brothel's" is untouchable. The documentary itself is the ultimate necessary supplement to the art and lives of these children.

I grew up in a poor urban neighborhood, and the ubiquity of no education and parental depravity in depressed economic communities are voluminously echoed in these children's lives within the darkest, poorest, and densest of cities - Calcutta - both in Zana Briski's documentation with an active hand in their progress, and in the photos from the subjects themselves.

Revisit their works below - Flixster on Facebook wonderfully has an album right here on the "Born Into Brothels" page.

Like Manik's imperfectly perfect photo with the hand in the frame blocking a wall of crudely drawn xmas lights depicting children at play - it is the hand of the poor within composition both reaching for and blocking a caricature of an imperfect childhood that is the simple 'hope' this film and collection of art are for its creators.