BORN INTO BROTHELS: This is a documentary by photographer Zana Briski & filmmaker Ross Kauffman about a group of children in the red light district of Calcutta. Briski gives all the kids cameras, teaches them photography & even gets their pictures into galleries all in her attempts to keep the kids from their bleak futures.

The children of this film are beams of light in the darkness. Normal in the sense that they want to play, as all children will, but beneath their skins they know that they have no future. The young girls speak candidly about how their prostitute mothers & grandmothers want them to “get on the line”, which is slang for whoring. When a 10-year-old girl speaks candidly about possibly becoming a prostitute, it leaves the watcher uncomfortable, as such a revelation should. There are bad places in the world, readers. Once in a while we need to be reminded of this.

The boys speak of hashish-addicted fathers & wanting to take the girls away from this life, which is a romantic notion to consider coming from someone so young. 1 boy’s mother is murdered, set on fire by her pimp. Photographer Zana Briski is shocked when she hears that the police will do
nothing. That shock resonates through the screen.

It’s rare to come across a film that simultaneously lifts & lowers your spirits, but Born Into Brothels is just that. It opens a window to a darker section of our planet with just a few flashbulbs to light the way.

UNITED STATES OF LELAND: Don Cheadle & Ryan Gosling lead an ensemble cast in this drama about murder & the ripple effect that such an act has. Gosling stars as Leland Fitzgerald, an unusual teen whose demeanor is captivating. So when Leland murders his ex-girlfriend’s retarded brother, not only is the nature of the crime shocking, the characters & viewers want the boy’s
motive.

Don Cheadle plays Pearl Madison, a teacher at the juvenile detention center where Leland is being held. Pearl is mesmerized by the boy & realizes that Leland’s story can become the book to revitalize his fledgling writing career. Pearl gives Leland a journal in which to write; yet Leland still gives no explanation as to why he killed a child.

Through Leland’s journal, we learn about his relationship with Becky, played by the lovely Jena Malone. Becky is a heroin addict & she’s in love with her incarcerated dealer. Leland discovers the hard way that when you love a junkie, you love a liar.

Through US of L we see how 1 murder impacts the families of the murderer & the victim. It is not a predictable film, but there are stellar performances throughout. United States of Leland plainly says that looking in the mind of an outcast doesn’t always show you what you hoped to see.

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