Born Into Brothels By Zana Briski And Ross Kauffman

The multi-award winning documentary ‘Born Into Brothels’, directed by Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman, acknowledges the lives of children who have unfortunately been trapped within the Red-Light district of Calcutta, India. This red-light district is recognized by the world as the second-largest red-light district in the world, containing several hundreds of multi-story brothels with an approximated 11,000 ‘sex workers’. Typically, as a high school student of Western Civil origin, I have not been subjected to this kind of raw violence and confronting and cramped living conditions. I recognized that my generalized emotion throughout the entirety of the documentary was sympathy directed toward the children who were outspokenly forced to endure

living in such a starved economy. This emotion was predominantly inherited from Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski’s effective use and manipulation of camera angles as well as effective selecting and sequencing of subject matter.
Initially, although I had known about similar situations throughout the world, my thoughts and perspective surrounding the topic had dramatically transformed from being completely ignorant, to knowledgeable and sympathetic, rather than making the assumption that if the children had wanted to leave the district, they could have. Once I had properly acknowledged the living conditions, scarce money and restricted food available to the families the situation had become very real to me, opening my eyes to the horror of the prison that the children had been forcefully conceived into. These children are denied rights, childhood and individuality. Zana Briski’s use of sequencing displays that the children are explicitly mature with respect to their age, however when they escape from the hell that they had come from (40:00) they able to happily enjoy a day at the beach. When the kids are faced with challenges that they cannot do anything to prevent it accurately reveals their true maturity and realization of the situation, the kids know that they have little authority or dictatorship of their own lives. Through reflection it was clear that watching this documentary had made me dramatically reconsider my opinion and perspective of the slums throughout India.
The effective use of camera angles by Zana Briski throughout the film heavily dictates the emotions it expresses.

The repetitive use of close-up camera angles was purposefully manipulated by the producers of the documentary in order to demonstrate how ridiculously cramped and hectic the environment was. Often, a camera was attached to Zana Briski’s chest to involve the viewer into the documentary, giving them a proper perspective of life in the red-light district. It was explicitly obvious that the ONLY long-shot used by the producers throughout the film was when they had gone to the beach. The producers refrained from using insane/long shots throughout the documentary because the environment was extremely compact, there was not much space. Personally, after all the sympathetic emotions that I had felt towards the children it was very relieving to see the children have some sort of fun during their time away from the red-light district, the way that the producers were able to capture the happiness of the children constructs a some-what of a relationship for the viewer. The mix of emotions that are received throughout watching this movie really connects the viewer with the children, leaving the viewer wondering whether the children have succeeded in their life with the help of the Kids with Cameras organisation. Through research I was able to find that the children who had left Calcutta with the Kids with Cameras organisation have managed great success in other countries, most of these children were truly saved by the

organisation.

Although it has been recognized how the producers of the documentary were able to effectively manipulate camera angles to give the film purpose, the producers were also able to back-up this tremendous display of film techniques with music to strengthen the emotions felt by the viewers. Whilst watching the movie, almost immediately it was recognizable that the music used in the start of the film was used as a tool to demonstrate the chaotic environment of Calcutta, personally this music made me really uncomfortable as I had not previously been enlightened to the chaotic environment of Calcutta, India. The pressure that I had felt was almost similar to claustrophobia; the producers did not give the viewers a lot of ‘breathing room’ before throwing additional emotions at the viewer. The producer tended to only use Indian-style music as the viewers were not able to fully comprehend the style of it, emphasising on the foreign aspect of the film. It was also noticeable that the singular song that was used that expressed a happy tone was used when the children had visited the beach, this song was seemingly used with correlation to the happiness of the child, to overwhelm the viewer with happy/joyful emotions after the viewer had been made to feel crushed by the despair of the children.
The sequencing of subject matter throughout this documentary is mastered in a manner that the chaotic and wild environment of the red-light district is captured and translated into emotion when observed by a viewer. The way that Zana Briski and Ross Kauffman were able to emphasize these translated emotions with the effective use of camera angles was undoubtedly impressive, when accompanied by music these emotions became drastically impactful on the viewer. The music techniques and sequencing used by the producers of the film added complexity and radically turned this amazing piece of film into a masterpiece. In hindsight, my ignorance toward this topic is truly unsettling, I recognize now that without external help, these children are truly trapped without hope of escape. This message is accurately inherited by the viewer through a collective masterpiece of film techniques and the selection and sequencing of subject matter.