born into brothels

Just watched this movie and I would highly recommend it. It was joyful and heartbreaking at the same time. Director Zana Briski goes to Calcutta to photograph prostitutes and ends up starting a photography class for the children. they are all given their own cameras and seem to really love the class. The documentary captures both sides of the story though. One scene shows one of the beautiful kids taking/developing pictures while the next shows the same kid being beaten physically or verbally. Difficult to watch at times. These kids are just like any other kids. They goof around, laugh, smile, and just be kids. The problem is the environment/circumstances in which they have to try and do this. Briski joins many others in getting to the root of the problem by attempting to provide them with education to secure a brighter future. This I agree completely with. However the film did draw criticism on the degree in which the children's lives were actually improved. Many of them were accepted into boarding schools and not allowed to go, taken out, etc. This is understandable as some families just aren't ready. but not trying is what should draw the most criticism. the joy that Briski and her photography class brings is undeniable. 

This film made me think of an organization called Dalit Freedom Network. My friend Liz went to India with them and I tried to go with them this summer but it unfortunately didn't work out. They work with the lowest of the low (in the caste system). 

And Jesus spoke often of the lowest of the low saying things like, "whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."

Its weird writing about this having never been there and all and maybe I'm just one of many spectators. but I know there has been and still is something stirring inside of me.