Born Into Brothels (2004)
Two documentary filmmakers chronicle their time in Sonagchi, Calcutta and the relationships they developed with children of prostitutes who work the city's notorious red light district
Cast and Information
Directed By: Ross Kauffman, Zana Briski
Written By: Ross Kauffman, Zana Briski
Genre: Documentary
Where to Stream
Loading...
Born Into Brothels belongs to 14 collections
1. Female Directors (collaborative: moderated by djross - 90 stars)
2. Netflix Instant (collaborative: moderated by somnivore - 29 stars)
3. Women+ (collaborative: moderated by paulofilmo - 18 stars)
4. Oscar Winner: Best Documentary, Feature (collaborative: moderated by sengir - 7 stars)
5. Prostitution (collaborative: moderated by Moribunny - 7 stars)
6. Positive Psychology Films (collaborative - 6 stars)
7. Best by different standards (public: sesito71 - 6 stars)
8. Photography (collaborative: moderated by Ag0stoMesmer - 5 stars)
9. Movies about photography (collaborative: moderated by Hkit - 2 stars)
10. Netflix instant LATAM (collaborative: moderated by Roman_Herbom - 1 star)
11. Next Up (collaborative: moderated by davidysteph)
12. Movies I Saw in Theaters (public: theficionado)
13. 2004: Year in Review (public: polanski28)
14. Movies to See: Documentaries (public: Lord Moe)
Browse the full list of collections
| Stars | User | Rating | |
| 3 |  |
MartinTeller | 62 20th |
|
It's a fairly interesting story, and heartwarming and all that... but it does feel a little bit self-serving. "Look at me, and all the great things I'm doing for these kids!" The film really seems to be a lot more about that than it is about the kids and their lives.
|
|||
| 2 |  |
Zarkon | 60 11th |
|
The narrator-director turned an otherwise interesting documentary into advocate journalism in the second half of the film when she decided to help the children she was filming. It just seemed like "look at the good I did" attention-whoring.
|
|||
| 1 | katje | 85 92nd |
|
|
Seeing the beautiful photographs these children take against circumstances that would foster the opposite is a powerful contrast.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
hellboy76 | 73 89th |
|
A lot of people knock the filmmaker for becoming involved in the story. And if she didn't , what then; a ultimately depressing documentary that works the same as every other one before it? If you film something terrible that you can change for the better, and don't, it may make you a better documentarian, it also makes you an asshole.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
SlantMag | 25 61st |
|
"Focuses too much on the production of images and not enough on documenting the world contained within them." - Ed Gonzalez
|
|||
| 1 | fi_chince | 70 38th |
|
|
I liked it because it presents photography as a window into the kids' world. One of the kids had some real creativity and talent as a photographer, and I was quite impressed with and inspired by some of his ideas and techniques.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
TheEscapist | 72 59th |
|
It's an interesting and emotional documentary, but I didn't really enjoy it. It's heartbreaking and sad, but at the same time also inspiring. However as a documentary I feel this could have been done better, the 'musical interludes' were really distracting, the footage was shaky and combined with the music I was feeling nauseous. Also while of course it's praiseworthy that the director is trying to help these kids, it did shift the focus of attention a bit and not in a good way.
|
|||
| 1 |  |
backwardsuit | 61 26th |
|
It's a bit self-congratulatory (not completely without reason), avoiding both the bigger picture and intimate or introspective moments. The kids win you over instantly though and some of the material speaks for itself. Doesn't really manage to open a window into the world of the kids & you're mostly left with a few cute and poignant moments. In the end I'm not sure what it want's to be about exactly. Maybe it's not a fair comparison but First Movie pulled off a similar concept a lot better.
|
|||
| Average Percentile 61.31% from 442 Ratings |  |