Introduction
Filmmakers always want to get high attention from the audience. Two types of audience are present in the society, one is the active audience that is the audience which responds to interprets the media text in different ways and actively engages with the message in it. Another one is a passive audience, and this audience does not engage with the message instead more affected by the messages contained within the text. In order to make an audience believe the representation of an issue, filmmakers lives the problem they are representing. They experience the feelings one who was already suffering that particular issue. Filmmakers, in order to represent an issue, creates everything that will look so real that audience will believe that this issue is happening around that part.
Born In Brothel
Born in Brothels: Calcutta’s Red Light Kids is a 2004 Indian American movie, written and directed by Ross Kauffman and Zana Briski. Briski is a documentary photographer. She went to Calcutta to photograph the prostitutes. While there, she got friended with the prostitute’s children and taught them with the basics of photography. She gave cameras to children so that their life could become easy and they can earn by using a camera. The photographs of the children depicted the life at the Red light district (Born into Brothels, 2004). Briski went on and provided the children with the basic need for education, although most of the children that entered int the schools got out few of them stayed there and continued their study. One of that particular students was Avijit who had a God gift. Later on, other children were interviewed by the local television reporters in Oxford Bookstore in Calcutta.
Slumdog Millionaire
Slumdog Millionaire is a British movie directed by Danny Boyle, produced by Christian Colson, written by Simon Beaufoy in 2008. This movie was set and filmed in India. It is a loose adaptation of an Indian novel Q&A whose author was Vikas Swarup. The movie tells a story about a young boy Jamal Ahmed who is 18 years old, enters into the biggest reality competition show “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” an Indian version where he answered every question correctly but accused of cheating (Slumdog Millionaire, 2008). Jamal recounts his history, illustrating how he answered every question.
Comparison
The theme of Born into Brothels gives an insiders look at the world of the Red light district and the harsh reality of living outside the law. The theme of this documentary is more close to the feelings and emotions of the human as compared to the theme of the movie Slumdog Millionaire. Though the casting of the movie Slumdog Millionaire is more extensive then Born into Brothels, Education is the basic necessity of life which is why I believe that Born into Brothels is more representing then Slumdog Millionaire. The use of contrasting visuals and emotion appealing scenes are indicating that this documentary was intended to be directed towards the public, to move them, to demand them to work for the betterment of these innocent children. The use of these emotions lacked in Slumdog Millionaire.
By looking into the setting of both the movies, the setting of Slumdog Millionaire gives the high edge over the Born into Brothels. As India’s most prominent slums are present in Mumbai so the director urged himself to shoot the movie in that area so that audience will get a more precise look at the day to day life in slums. As far as the documentary of Born into Brothels is concerned Zana Briski did chose the location quite well but the clarity of scenes coming out from Slumdog is way better than Born into Brothels.
A plot of Born into Brothels gives one clearer image of the movie than the plot of Slumdog Millionaire. The reason behind it is the skills of Zana that she utilised in making out that documentary. She took real-life photographs and provided the public with a clear image.
Conclusion
In conclusion, although the children in “ Born into Brothels” are only a small group of persons affected by human trafficking and prostitution. This movie is better than Slumdog Millionaire as it demonstrates not only the transformative power of art but hopes that through continuous determination and persistence change is possible.
References
Born into Brothels. (2004). [DVD] Directed by Z. Briski and R. Kauffman. Hollywood: THINKFilm.
Slumdog Millionaire. (2008). [DVD] Directed by D. Boyle and C. Colson. India: Celador Films Film4.
