Pixote

When I was living in Brazil, the first book I read in Portuguese was Pixote: infancia dos mortos, which was the first and most famous novel written by Jose Louzeiro in 1977. When I discovered there was a movie, I had to see it.

It's been about 5 years since I read the book and I may have misunderstood many things since my Portuguese is not fluent, but I believe that the story in the movie is not at all the same story in the book.

The names of the characters are all the same and some of the events are similar. In the book, the story primarily focuses on the kids' lives engaged in crime around the city selling drugs for Crystal. In contrast to the movie, in the book they spend very little time in the boys reformatory, Fumaca is with them throughout much of the book, and in the end the boys get major revenge on the police.

The book and the film are equally disturbing portrayals of Brazil's street children. I'm not sure if the book is available in English.