DVD | Born Into Brothels

I was fortunate enough to be sent an advance copy of the DVD Born Into Brothels. I say fortunate, as it’s a real eye opener rather than a fun filled night in front of the TV.

What started out as a New York photographer’s desire to photograph the prostitutes who live and work in Calcutta’s red light district. She found the task impossible as neither the prostitutes nor their clients wanted to be photographed. They were too scared.

Instead of giving up, she decided to live in the red light district so that she would be accepted. It’s here that she discovered the children.

If you think prostitutes in one of the world’s poorest cities have it bad, you haven’t met the children of prostitutes. From birth they are written off, not by their parents but by society.

The documentary starts off with an interview with a 10-year-old girl, who tells of the men who visit ‘not being very nice’ and ‘normally drunk.’ Then she hits you with an unexpected blow; ‘all the women want to know when I’m going to join the line.’

At age ten, this girl is of the age where she’s expected to earn money. And because of the stigma attached to being a child of a prostitute, there is only one way for her to earn money.

But what can one New York photographer do? She takes a group of children from her street and starts to teach them how to look at the world differently, through the camera lenes. It doesn’t take long for her to see that these are normal children with some exceptional talents.

Along the way, as well as creating talented photographers, she works tirelessly through the bureaucracy to try and find a School that will take these kids. One child she even manages to get invited to an international photographers conference, and their photos appear in Amnesty International’s calendar.

So is there a happy ending? I’m not telling. What I will say is that if watching this documentary doesn’t affect you in some way, you must be made of stone.

One point of warning, even though it’s subtitled, there is one prostitute with anger issues who uses all manner of swear words, so if you’re easily offended, you have been warned, but try not to let this keep you from watching an amazing story of the power of one.

Retail release date: 26 Jan 2006