Pixote (1981)

The life of a boy in the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with crimes, prostitution and drugs.

Director:

Hector Babenco

Writers:

Hector Babenco (story), Jorge Durán (story)

Stars:

Fernando Ramos da Silva, Jorge Julião, Gilberto Moura

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 9 wins & 3 nominations.

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)

Storyline

Pixote, a 10-year-old runaway boy, is arrested on the streets of Sao Paulo during a police round-up homeless people. Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of the runaways are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old transvesite hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape where they make their living by the life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death.

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Plot Keywords:

boy | violence | police | death | jail | 

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Genres:

Crime | Drama

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

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.

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Alternate Versions

All UK versions were cut by 27 secs under the 1978 Protection of Children Act. The scene removed was a panning shot showing Pixote on a bed alongside a couple having sex.

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Connections

Featured in At the Movies: Crix Pick Prez Flix (1993)

User Reviews

Brilliant and Brutal

Perhaps the most brutal filmic portrait of youth ever made; Charles Dickens meets Hieronymous Bosch in this tale of a group of boys struggling to survive in the reformatories and mean streets of Brazil as the cycle of prey transformed into predators is documented.

The saddest detail is to realize that this film, made almost twenty five years ago, documents a world that in terms of its poverty and depravity, has apparently changed very little. A brutal reality captured here but with some of the most layered acting I've ever seen in the history of film by a group of amateurs picked from the streets of Sao Paulo with no previous experience. Not one or two good performances, the entire cast is quite simply remarkable, and even sadder is the fact that most of them have probably now been swallowed by the street life they portrayed.

Not as sophisticated a vision as Bunuel's 'Los Olvidados' or as sensational as Clarke's 'Kids,' but in this genre of 'children growing up in the streets' it is easily the most emotionally powerful film of them all.

Details

Country:

Brazil

Language:

Portuguese

Release Date:

18 September 1981 (Brazil)

Also Known As:

Pixote

Filming Locations:

Avenida Paulista, São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil

Company Credits

Production Co:

Embrafilme, HB Filmes

Technical Specs

Runtime:

128 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1