Sight Given To The Blind

I watched this documentary recently. It was deeply moving. I think it is my current favorite visual depiction of the human capacity to change through the mysterious intervention of sight. I believe the passageway into these children's souls has been through their eyes.

Here is the synopsis of the documentary as published on the movie distribution company's web site. Click anywhere on the synopsis to be linked to their web site:

A tribute to the resiliency of childhood and the restorative power of art, BORN INTO BROTHELS is a portrait of several unforgettable children who live in the red light district of Calcutta where their mothers work as prostitutes. Zana Briski, a New York based photographer, gives each of these youngsters a camera and teaches them how to take pictures, simultaneously causing them to look at their world with new eyes.

The kids would meet with Zana for photography lessons. Several times she would bring in the proof sheets for them to look at together. I loved watching the children learn how to express an opinion about something. She gave them permission to talk about the things they liked and did not like in the photographs they took. They were also welcome to critique eachother's pictures. It seemed this was a vital step in process of opening their hearts up to change at a spiritual level.

Zana took them on field trips--to the ocean, to a photo developing shop, to a water park...she dismantled the doors and walls of their prison. She invited them to look out the window of the red light district and see all the options life presented them.

I admired Zana's willingness to help open up life to these kids, but not to take control of their lives. She showed her heart of compassion for them, used alot of energy up upon their behalf, she battled for their lives. But she was not devastated by their imperfect choices or the thwarting of her best efforts. I loved watching her live her belief in their ability to one day see their lives, the possibilities, and the world around them.

These kids gained sight into their surroundings and into their own souls. They actually ended up caring, dreaming, wondering.

Three years after Zana's photo lessons with the children of the brothels, she organized a reunion for them (this would have been last January). Most of them are in high school now. All of them have some strand of hope woven into their current stories. None of the girls in the group are "in line" to be prosititues. That is a miracle in itself.

One of the most poignant parts of the documentary is a selection in the DVD "extras." During their reunion together last winter, the children asked to watch the documentary. Zana and her partner, Ross, filmed selected parts of their viewing of the work. Basically, you had the opportunity to see the children as they watched themselves learning how see themselves through the eye of a camera. It was beautiful! As the scenes of their own lives played out in front of them, the flicker of the TV reflecting in their eyes, you could see all the way down into their broken hearts on the mend.

The sight was an absolute picture of beauty.

Please consider looking into the foundation Zana has created on their behalf. Please consider letting them tell their own story to you, rather than being satisfied with my rendition. You can rent the DVD anywhere, and click here for the link to the KIDS WITH CAMERAS foundation.