His mother hugs him and dies. The landlady tosses him onto the street, and he steals a loaf of bread. He is sent to a children's reformatory, where he is set to work on a chain gang.
Was this the state of French law at the time this was made? The boys in the penitentiary behave like adults, hardened by their experience and the cruel physical punishment they are forced to bear. Here's an early one-reel drama that has something real to say about the state of society at the time. It also offers an alternative.
