Drinking,Gambling and Prostitution have been in existence since time immemorial.
Prostitution is a trade which while being vehemently criticized in Public , is secretly adored.
Barring a few cases , women enter in to this harrowing world because of poverty,ill-treatment ,neglect and exploitation by men and women for money.
More serious is the crime of sexual misconduct.perversions,adultery, living in relationships.
These vile acts are not seriously looked as one would at Prostitution.
“Michael Glawogger does for documentary film what Ryszard Kapuściński did for journalism: He reinvents it as something immersive, meditative, and poetic. His films condense themes of staggering complexity—economics, labor, sex—into meticulous vignettes of everyday life. Although he has occasionally been derided for aestheticizing poverty, there’s little doubt that his audacious style is compelling. Nobody who has seen Megacities, his 1998 film about globalization, can forget those feverish New York City scenes of a hustler shooting dope and robbing his john at knifepoint, just as nobody who has watched Workingman’s Death (2005), his portrait of contemporary physical labor, can shake its images of a Nigerian slaughterhouse awash in blood.”
Look at the Pathetic look in eyes tinged with desperation, pain, self revulsion and disgust!
“I recently spoke with Michael Glawogger about the challenges of capturing such a clandestine subculture. The accompanying photographs are from the companion book to Whores’ Glory,published by Orange Press.
Mother Jones: The locations you filmed pose intense logistical challenges for a documentarian, let alone one who is also taking photographs. How did you balance the two?
Michael Glawogger: Mostly I take photographs in times of research. Whores’ Glory was shot in 30 days, 10 days for each segment, but the research for each part lasted a couple of months.
MJ: Did the women respond differently to being photographed than to being filmed?
MG: Sometimes the presence of a camera is like opening a door, because many people want what Andy Warhol called “15 minutes of fame.” But prostitutes don’t want that. They know about the internet, they know their boyfriend can see them, or their parents, so overcoming those boundaries is very tough. I’ve made many documentaries, but prostitution was the hardest in terms of gaining the trust of the people being filmed.
MJ: How did you do that?
MG: I had to first convince them that I wasn’t a journalist who would yet again put out a notion about them they wouldn’t necessarily care for or who would victimize them. You know, journalists come and go. If they come twice, it’s a lot. But I come 10 times and hang out with them and share stuff. If you connect with someone just once, that’s something. But if you can connect twice, that’s something else.
MJ: The film is so lush and cinematic. Is it your ambition as a documentarian to restore beauty to lives that many outsiders might see as ugly?
MG: As a filmmaker I cannot make anything beautiful. I’m Platonic in that sense. I think beauty is the splendor of truth, so if the people I portray think they’re beautiful, they’re beautiful. I don’t make them that way. I don’t aestheticize anything. I don’t even use lights. The working girls do one thing all day: They make themselves pretty. That’s their job and their money. In a way, I had the best makeup artists, hairdressers, and art designers in the world.
MJ: How does being a man change the way these women respond to you?
MG: Whenever a man enters the realm of prostitutes he’s always regarded as a possible customer. If you enter as a woman, you’re regarded as somebody who could be in the same place. Being a man brings the perspective of flirtation.
http://www.motherjones.com/photoessays/2012/07/ghettos-desire/waiting-brothel
Leave a Reply