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Born Into Brothels

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 32 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 20 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Documentary
Written by:
Zana Briski
Ross Kauffman
Directed by:
Zana Briski
Ross Kauffman
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 8, 2004
DVD: September 20, 2005
Running Time: 85 minutes, Color
Origin: India / USA
Language(s): English / Bengali (with English subtitles)
Summary
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)
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database Official Studio Site Film Forum Profile
What The Critics Said
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...
Boston Globe Ty Burr
This is the kind of film that reminds you of what movies, at their best, are capable of.
Read Full Review >Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
The title captures this film's harrowing qualities, but not its energy, its limpid beauty or its spiritual grace.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
A devastating portrait of impoverished Calucutta children.
Read Full Review >Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman
But as cynical as I may have been going in, I came out a believer.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Marc Mohan
The results are inspiring, demonstrating that an artistic eye is an innate thing.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
The Hollywood Reporter James Greenberg
This is a work of art so deep and resonant that it puts most narrative films to shame.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
This film carries us so touchingly into their world, it would take a heart of stone, finally, to ignore them.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Liam Lacey
Rather than another oppressive film about poverty, it's a revealing experiment in perspective.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Brad Slager
The brightest facet of the movie is that even as they face oppressive conditions they still persist with joy.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Favors unforgettable images over in-depth storytelling, and prioritizing electrifying moments over narrative arcs.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Designed to be "inspirational," yet it shortchanges the complex reality of the lives it makes such a show of saving.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 8.9 (out of 10) based on 20 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Dee gave it a10:
Its one of the best documentaries that not only touch your heart, but lite you up to bring your potential to something for the people. Its an eye-opener, I had never thought about those kids before! Now I am ready to adopt one of them.
Frank O. gave it a9:
Well constructed, did not want to care about this subject but director pulled me in through introduction of kids.
tom s. gave it a9:
Moving and extraordinary.
Paul F. gave it a9:
Great documentary, a little slow though with an aburt ending. The children were magnificent, playful and full of life. My favorite scene is of them dancing on the bus shot with grainy film. The tales were harrowing to say the least. The issue of their mothers being Prostitutes was not what bothered me but it was the poverty, drug addiction, forced labor, child prostitution, slavery, pimping & murder (which the law turned a blind eye to) that bothered me. The caste system seems still to be in effect. But on a up note it was nice to see someone spend so much effort to try to help these kids out of an utterly desperate situation. And in the end some of them did seem like they really had a chance for a better life.
Nelson D gave it a6:
A fascinating film, but I couldn't shake the sense that these people spent all this time to make a movie that would portray themselves as saints, and engender exactly the kind of reactions you read here. Are Briski's efforts, which ultimately have mixed results at best, truly selfless and noble if they are trumpeted in this manner?
tim m gave it a5:
It was alright. very pretentious and repetetive. i saw a doc on pbs the week before i went to this movie of similar content, yet the tv movie was much more interesting, well-constructed, and moving.
Judi R. gave it a9:
This movie really moved me, Zana Briski was so inspiring. I give her so much credit for what she di. What is she doing know I wounder?
