I haven’t seen the whole film, but from the beginning clip we saw in class, I didn’t get a good vibe from the film. I completely agree with the people in class who felt that the author/producer didn’t really care about the issues in the film and I don’t think there was a true representation of the issues in the film. I felt Soma Girls did a better job of portraying every aspect in the film. Born into Brothels gave me a feeling of sadness, but mainly made me feel like there was nothing that could be done, at this point, to improve this situation. It seemed like a lost cause. Whereas in Soma Girls, I felt a sense of hope. The young girls are so resilient and want to make a change in their lives, so they can completely alter their lives. I think Soma Girls did a better job of portraying all emotions involved and didn’t leave the viewer with a feeling of hopelessness.
I thought both pieces did a very well job in showing the issue of prostitution in the Indian communities. They however differed in their overall moods. While Soma Girls had a more positive and hopeful tone, Born into Brothels had a more negative and sad tone. While watching Soma Girls, I felt that it was more genuine in the way that it showed how normal the kids were, doing the same activities of children in our society. While watching born into Brothels, however, I felt it was more dramatized. The reason the documenter did this was to draw the attention of the audience and make them want to find out just how bad the specific part of India is.
There is a fine line between producing a media product that aims to be accessible and desirable and one that over dramatizes an issue to gain recognition. Personally, I think that Born into Brothels did seem to commodify its subjects suffering, when compared to Soma Girls. That being said, I’m not sure that I am in a position to criticize either of these films, as they both draw attention to an issue that gets little recognition in the Western world. I was less comfortable with the low-angled shots in Born Into Brothels, due to the fact that they were likely taken without the knowledge of the shots’ subjects. I am sure that there are instances where this kind of inconspicuous filming is needed. However, I think that with an issue such as prostitution in India, a more-favorable change could be achieved by attempting to understand these unfortunate individuals on a personal level. I would question whether a film could maintain its integrity when keeping such an extensive distance between its subjects. It seems that this would lessen the personalized aspects of the film and would be more likely to mis-represent Indian prostitutes and their children.