The most outstanding and memorable movie of the week is Born Into Brothels. It is an extraordinary documentary that took seven years to shoot, attesting to the passion and commitment of its makers Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman.
The film chronicles the lives of a group of children, who were born in the brothels of Calcutta. Their mothers are prostitutes and, as we sadly learn, some of the young girls will be forced to follow in their mothers' footsteps when they grow older.
Yet despite their squalid situations, the children are anything but sad. On the contrary, they are a bundle of energy, hope and laughter — just as kids often are. And when Zana gave them automatic cameras to take snapshots their own lives, some of them produce the most poignant and beautiful images you could ever imagine taken by a child.
This graceful film gives us some hope that the kids may find solace and redemption in art — but at the same time, it doesn't fool us into thinking that a few automatic cameras could ever really change the tragic circumstances of their lives.
Winner of countless awards, including the Oscar for Best Documentary, Born Into Brothels is the must-watch of the week.