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34
10,000 B.C.
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36
College Road Trip
xx
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31
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41
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67
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54
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49
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34
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57
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xx
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71
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61
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65
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79
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35
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73
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24
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37
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xx
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58
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48
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55
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22
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69
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44
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53
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76
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37
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37
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61
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47
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55
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33
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93
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64
Wanted
36
What Happens in Vegas...
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
93
WALL-E
79
Iron Man
76
Shine a Light
73
Kung Fu Panda
71
Horton Hears a Who!
69
Redbelt
67
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
65
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
64
Wanted
62
Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, The
61
Stop Loss
61
Incredible Hulk, The
58
Mist, The
57
Forbidden Kingdom, The
57
Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay
55
Street Kings
55
Nim's Island
55
Baby Mama
54
You Don't Mess with the Zohan
54
Get Smart
53
Sex and the City: The Movie
49
Hancock
48
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
47
Strangers, The
44
Ruins, The
41
Drillbit Taylor
37
Made of Honor
37
Shutter
37
Speed Racer
36
College Road Trip
36
What Happens in Vegas...
35
Jumper
34
Happening, The
34
10,000 B.C.
33
Superhero Movie
31
Deception
24
Love Guru, The
22
Postal
xx
Hellboy II: The Golden Army
xx
Dark Knight, The
xx
Mamma Mia!
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.

83
Alexandra
80
Band's Visit, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
47
Bella
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
59
Blind Mountain
55
Bra Boys
60
Brick Lane
70
Caramel
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
78
Counterfeiters, The
52
Diminished Capacity
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
84
Edge of Heaven, The
52
Elsa & Fred
79
Encounters at the End of the World
62
Expired
64
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51
Finding Amanda
57
Flawless
86
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63
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60
Fugitive Pieces
45
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55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
69
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74
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63
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68
Heartbeat Detector
34
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68
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55
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69
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60
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68
Kabluey
62
Kiss the Bride
63
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82
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38
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70
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64
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30
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33
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53
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74
Mongol
52
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52
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71
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84
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61
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69
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61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
83
Paranoid Park
72
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51
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55
Quid Pro Quo
29
Red Roses and Petrol
79
Reprise
71
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56
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51
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76
Shotgun Stories
66
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70
Standard Operating Procedure
62
Stuck
72
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81
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56
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xx
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71
To the Limit
54
Tracey Fragments, The
70
Trumbo
72
Tuya's Marriage
83
U2 3D
56
Unknown Woman
86
Up the Yangtze
79
Visitor, The
62
Wackness, The
37
War, Inc.
64
Water Lilies
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
55
Without the King
72
Woman on the Beach
64
XXY
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
75
Young@Heart
86
Up the Yangtze
86
Flight of the Red Balloon, The
84
My Winnipeg
84
Edge of Heaven, The
83
Chop Shop
83
Paranoid Park
83
Alexandra
83
U2 3D
83
Chris & Don. A Love Story
82
Last Mistress, The
81
Tell No One
80
Bigger, Stronger, Faster*
80
Band's Visit, The
79
Reprise
79
Encounters at the End of the World
79
Visitor, The
78
Counterfeiters, The
76
Beauty in Trouble
76
Shotgun Stories
75
Young@Heart
74
Mongol
74
Gonzo: The Life and Work of Dr. Hunter S. Thompson
73
Duchess of Langeais, The
72
Woman on the Beach
72
Priceless
72
Tuya's Marriage
72
Surfwise
71
To the Limit
71
My Brother Is an Only Child
71
Roman de gare
70
Standard Operating Procedure
70
Trumbo
70
Love Songs
70
Caramel
69
Go-Getter, The
69
Operation Filmmaker
69
Jellyfish
68
Kabluey
68
Heartbeat Detector
68
Honeydripper
67
Year My Parents Went on Vacation, The
66
Son of Rambow
66
When Did You Last See Your Father?
64
Married Life
64
Dreams with Sharp Teeth
64
XXY
64
Water Lilies
64
Fall, The
63
Foot Fist Way, The
63
Gunnin for that #1 Spot
63
Kit Kittredge: An American Girl
62
Stuck
62
Expired
62
Wackness, The
62
Kiss the Bride
61
OSS 117: Cairo - Nest of Spies
61
On the Rumba River
60
Fugitive Pieces
60
Brick Lane
60
Jihad for Love, A
59
Blind Mountain
57
Flawless
56
Unknown Woman
56
Then She Found Me
56
Sangre de mi sangre
55
Quid Pro Quo
55
Glass: A Portrait of Philip in Twelve Parts
55
Irina Palm
55
Bra Boys
55
Without the King
54
Tracey Fragments, The
53
Mister Lonely
52
Diminished Capacity
52
Elsa & Fred
52
Mother of Tears, The
52
My Blueberry Nights
51
Finding Amanda
51
Promotion, The
51
Savage Grace
49
Children of Huang Shi, The
47
Bella
45
Full Grown Men
38
Life Before Her Eyes, The
37
War, Inc.
34
Holding Trevor
33
Miss Conception
30
Meet Bill
29
Red Roses and Petrol
xx
Thoda Pyaar Thoda Magic
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
|
Born Into Brothels
ThinkFilm Inc.
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
This documentary is an inspiring look at the transformative journey of a group of extraordinary children in Calcutta's red light district. (ThinkFilm)
| GENRE(S): |
Documentary
|
| WRITTEN BY: |
Zana Briski
Ross Kauffman
|
| DIRECTED BY: |
Zana Briski
Ross Kauffman
|
| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: September 20, 2005
Theatrical: December 8, 2004
|
| RUNNING TIME: |
85 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
India / USA |
| LANGUAGE(S): |
English / Bengali (with English subtitles) |
Winner of the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature at the 77th Academy Awards. Also received an Audience Award (Documentary), 2004 Sundance Film Festival.

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Boston Globe
Ty Burr
This is the kind of film that reminds you of what movies, at their best, are capable of.

100
San Francisco Chronicle
Carla Meyer
Compelling.

100
Dallas Observer
Melissa Levine
A superb and piercing documentary.

100
Baltimore Sun
Michael Sragow
The title captures this film's harrowing qualities, but not its energy, its limpid beauty or its spiritual grace.

90
Salon.com
Andrew O'Hehir
Creates such memorable images out of squalid surroundings that I sometimes wondered whether I was being distracted from the devastating stories of these kids by the beautiful cinematography.

89
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
A devastating portrait of impoverished Calucutta children.

88
Charlotte Observer
Lawrence Toppman
But as cynical as I may have been going in, I came out a believer.

88
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
The movie is a record by well-meaning people who try to make a difference for the better, and succeed to a small degree while all around them the horror continues unaffected.

88
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
It shows how the energy, and innocence, of children can be found - and fostered - in even the bleakest spots on earth.

83
Portland Oregonian
Marc Mohan
The results are inspiring, demonstrating that an artistic eye is an innate thing.

80
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
Doesn't just bring you to the edge of the hopeless zone, it takes you right into its homes where the children play.

80
Time
Richard Schickel
Very moving film.

80
LA Weekly
Ella Taylor
Born Into Brothels will break your heart, then warm it up and leave you with that 7-Up longing to know what happens next to Zana's kids.

80
Los Angeles Times
Kenneth Turan
Seven years in the making, it demands to be experienced not just because of the good it does but because of how unexpectedly good, even buoyant, it makes you feel.

80
Wall Street Journal
Joe Morgenstern
Why, then, should we be eager to see a story of such incomplete inspiration? Because it's thrilling, and stirring. And because it is truth.
80
The Hollywood Reporter
James Greenberg
This is a work of art so deep and resonant that it puts most narrative films to shame.

80
The New York Times
Dana Stevens
The resulting film is moving, charming and sad, a tribute to Ms. Briski's indomitability and to the irrepressible creative spirits of the children themselves.

75
USA Today
Mike Clark
As inspiring as the story wants to be, its real drama is mired around the edges, where we get a sense of what it is really like to be born into a brothel.

75
New York Post
V.A. Musetto
Briski, a New York photographer, spent several years with the pre-teens. But she did more than just film them -- she tried to help them.

75
Christian Science Monitor
David Sterritt
A stirring documentary, and would be more so if it focused more on social problems than on Briski's own work.

75
Chicago Tribune
Michael Wilmington
This film carries us so touchingly into their world, it would take a heart of stone, finally, to ignore them.

75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Liam Lacey
Rather than another oppressive film about poverty, it's a revealing experiment in perspective.

75
Miami Herald
Rene Rodriguez
Often, the movie leaves you wishing Briski had found a way to document more of her subjects' day-to-day lives.

70
TV Guide
Ken Fox
In a rare and inspiring example of the way art can both reflect and alleviate human suffering, photojournalist Zana Briski's wrenching documentary traces her valiant use of photography to help children trapped in one of the most wretched places on earth.

70
Chicago Reader
Richard M. Porton
The children are not exactly reporters -- they bring back no shattering images of sexual servitude -- but their photography, like much children's art, is fresh and sometimes startling.

70
Film Threat
Brad Slager
The brightest facet of the movie is that even as they face oppressive conditions they still persist with joy.

70
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Nathan Rabin
Favors unforgettable images over in-depth storytelling, and prioritizing electrifying moments over narrative arcs.

70
Variety
Todd McCarthy
Even if the film itself is relatively conventional, its exposure of a squalid city's most benighted neighborhood and its introduction of hope into nearly hopeless lives give it strong human interest value.

70
Village Voice
Jessica Winter
Almost inevitably for a documentary of this stripe, it risks aestheticizing poverty--but here it's usually the kids themselves who compose the most arresting images.

63
New York Daily News
Jami Bernard
Touching and saddening.

60
Empire
Helen O'Hara
Some gorgeous imagery – mostly in pictures taken by the kids – and heartbreaking stories, but the directors' appearances sometimes feel self-indulgent.

50
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
Designed to be "inspirational," yet it shortchanges the complex reality of the lives it makes such a show of saving.


The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
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