Mass-e-Baht
Where: Parkside Hotel
When: Tonight, 7:15
Rating: 3/5 stars
While a film detailing the plight of nearly eight million impoverished child labourers in Bangladesh — begging at train stations and toiling in crowded sweatshops and garbage dumps — seems like a downer, this documentary by Hannan Majid and Richard York is more inspiring than expected. The filmmakers chart the progress of 19-year-old Nasir, a child labourer from Dhaka’s Korail slums who became a social worker dedicated to helping such working children. They live in densely populated slums in cities and villages, where one woman says she’d be lucky to make $2 a month cleaning houses. Despite the bleakness, a hopeful, strikingly photographed picture emerges of a developing nation in transition, with educational opportunities provided by charitable agencies such as the Valisa Foundation to help build a sustainable future.
READ MORE ›› Victoria Film Festival