Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco (1981)

Director:

Hector Babenco

Writers:

José Louzeiro (book) and
Hector Babenco (writer)

Release Date:

5 May 1982 (France)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama

Plot:

The life of a boy in the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with little crimes, prostitution, etc

Plot Keywords:

Runaway | Detention Center | 10 Year Old | Police | Escape

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 7 wins

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Fernando Ramos da Silva	...	Pixote
Jorge Julião	...	Lilica
Gilberto Moura	...	Dito
Edilson Lino	...	Chico
Zenildo Oliveira Santos	...	Fumaça
Claudio Bernardo	...	Garatao
Israel Feres David	...	Roberto Pie de Plata
Jose Nilson Martin Dos Santos	...	Diego
Marília Pêra	...	Sueli
Jardel Filho	...	Sapatos Brancos
Rubens de Falco	...	Juiz
Elke Maravilha	...	Debora
Tony Tornado	...	Cristal
Beatriz Segall	...	Widower
João José Pompeo	...	Almir (as Joáo José Pompeu)

Also Known As:

Pixote
Pixote, the Law of the Weakest (USA)
The Survival of the Weakest (USA) (subtitle)

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:(Banned) (original rating) | Australia:R (re-rating after appeal) | UK:18 (cut) | West Germany:16 | Portugal:M/16 | Finland:K-18 | France:-12 | Norway:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Company:

Embrafilme

Trivia:

The film's star, 'Fernando Ramos Da Silva', who plays a young street criminal, actually was a street criminal before he made this film. After completing it he took up the criminal life again, and was killed in Brazil in 1987 in a shootout with police.

Movie Connections:

References Los olvidados (1950)

emotionally devastating Brazilian film

"Pixote" concerns the (mis)adventures of the eponymous hero, a pre-adolescent boy in urban Brazil, abandoned by his parents, who first endures the horrors of a youth prison, and then those of life on the street. Filmed in a quasi-documentary style with real street kids instead of professional actors (for the most part), "Pixote" will leave the viewer utterly devastated at the end of its 2+ hours. It is particulary effective when it develops other characters as they are seen by Pixote, especially those of the streetwise transvestite homosexual Lilica and the aging alcoholic prostitute Sueli (unforgettably portrayed by Marilia Pera, one of the few pro actors in the cast), who become surrogate parents to the young boy in a kind of improvised family whose economy is based on mugging Sueli's clients. Both the tragic denoument (which comes at the end of a film in which tragedy follows tragedy, ad infinitum), and the final shot of Pixote playing alone on the railroad tracks with haunting accompanying music on the soundtrack, are unbearably poignant. A masterpiece.