I commend Zana Briski for wanting to help these children. I believe she was moved by what she saw and did the best she could with the tools available to her. As she said herself, she is neither social worker nor teacher. She is not a native speaker of the language nor member of the culture. As such she brings her own values and assumptions to the table when trying to help the children, but I don't think that's something to criticize her for.
However the movie she made documenting her attempt to help these children was not effective as a documentary. We never get much of a feel for the kids, and only a cursory glimpse into what their lives are truly like. We see a few scenes of a woman verbally abusing a child but it's not clear why she's yelling. We're told rather than shown that their world is unpleasant, but from what we see on screen it doesn't seem all that bad. The children are almost always laughing and happy. Their parents seem to love them. Occasionally we see one scrubbing out a pot or getting a spanking. I would've loved to know more about these kids, their families and their lives, but what we mostly see are Briski's efforts to get them an education, which are commendable but place this film in the category of a feel-good (for Briski) vanity project rather than a work that truly shows us what the children's lives are like. Briski misses the mark by focusing on the two least interesting parts of the story, herself and the photography lessons, and relegating the most fascinating, the kids and their environment, to a relative sidebar.
The most telling scene in the film was when Briski learns that Ayvajit's mother has been burned to death by her pimp. The opportunities here for a visceral emotional punch are astounding, but what we get are a few seconds of Briski shaking her head and saying, "How sad." This sentiment sums up the shallowness of this film. By focusing on Briski and her efforts, we get an intellectual exercise instead of one that grabs us in the guts and makes us feel, as much as we can in our comfortable chairs from half a world away, what it is like to be born into a brothel.
However the movie she made documenting her attempt to help these children was not effective as a documentary. We never get much of a feel for the kids, and only a cursory glimpse into what their lives are truly like. We see a few scenes of a woman verbally abusing a child but it's not clear why she's yelling. We're told rather than shown that their world is unpleasant, but from what we see on screen it doesn't seem all that bad. The children are almost always laughing and happy. Their parents seem to love them. Occasionally we see one scrubbing out a pot or getting a spanking. I would've loved to know more about these kids, their families and their lives, but what we mostly see are Briski's efforts to get them an education, which are commendable but place this film in the category of a feel-good (for Briski) vanity project rather than a work that truly shows us what the children's lives are like. Briski misses the mark by focusing on the two least interesting parts of the story, herself and the photography lessons, and relegating the most fascinating, the kids and their environment, to a relative sidebar.
The most telling scene in the film was when Briski learns that Ayvajit's mother has been burned to death by her pimp. The opportunities here for a visceral emotional punch are astounding, but what we get are a few seconds of Briski shaking her head and saying, "How sad." This sentiment sums up the shallowness of this film. By focusing on Briski and her efforts, we get an intellectual exercise instead of one that grabs us in the guts and makes us feel, as much as we can in our comfortable chairs from half a world away, what it is like to be born into a brothel.