India is a world of pomp and circumstance, the look of things and the clothes of people are like smeared with the brightest colors in the world.
It's just that in the corner where the sun can't shine, there is a small alley where dirty water flows and has nowhere to go. Everything here is dark, especially people's lives. In the daytime, it is an ordinary slum, with people lingering on, eyes full of exhaustion; at night, the ambiguous peach-colored lights come on, and men who can't tie their belts are pulled into the small cubicles on the street to have fun. Different from the well-known organizational model of smugglers controlling prostitutes, many women have "normal" families behind the invisible sex trade: a husband who drinks, smokes, takes drugs, beats people and asks for money, and several women who do not know where to get money. out children. Boys may be sold for a sum of money, and girls may inherit their mother's business when they mature.
This is not hell, this is life; there are no bulls, ghosts, snakes, and angels in this place, let alone angels with white wings, only mortals who were born here, grew up here, and were buried here.
In such a network, apart from those men who have nothing to eat, the rest are defenseless victims, especially those children who were born in brothels.
The documentary "Born in a Brothel" focuses on these children. The story line is roughly to give each of them a camera, teach them to take pictures, and then exhibit and sell the works to raise money to send them to boarding schools. On the screen, there are not only the world in the children's eyes and the expectations projected by the photos, but also the unimaginable but real reality under the photographer's lens. Most of the Indian-style soundtracks are light and lively, but the greater the contrast with reality, the more ironic it is.
What the lens presents must be the fact that people have chosen it. In addition to the basic shooting techniques, soundtrack selection and ethical considerations, a well-made documentary needs moving stories and clever ideas in order to achieve the ultimate goal - to expose certain realities, change people's obsessions, and touch bad ones. status quo. From a layman's or general audience's point of view, I think Born in a Brothel deserves the Oscar.
I said so much because I remembered the documentary "Mai Harvest" I watched two days ago, about Chinese sex workers. Not to mention whether the most basic ethical bottom line dispute has been resolved, the story is not well told from the perspective of the author's intention to convey and the social impact of the work. It is obviously not enough to just cut out the part where the heroine picks up the guests. The 1510 records make the center of the film unclear. After watching it, although I feel that the heroine does have difficulties, it is far from a good impression. A film that documents sex workers cannot help to de-stigmatize them (I assume this trend is correct, and I believe the author's original intention is also the same), and even has a great impact on the person involved, then the scope of broadcast should be strictly limited , instead of being blamed in the messy online world. If it is just to satisfy the curiosity of the audience or the author thinks that the grassroots people can rationally judge the right and wrong of these girls, it means that his three views are abnormal and lack of knowledge.
Back to the topic, I was thinking that the son of a prostitute was so painful to live, if it was me, would it be better to die? But it's unfair to them to think this way, because it's not them that's wrong, but the whole world. Every new life has no choice but to be treated tenderly.
View more about Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids reviews
