Pixote

Though depressing and unlikeable, "Pixote..." is virtually critic-proof. Based on a novel by Jose Louzeiro, Babenco's film offers an outraged response to the crushing hardships suffered by millions of homeless street kids in Sao Paulo who turn to crime to sustain themselves and are exploited by criminal gangs because of a loophole in Brazilian law which forbids the prosecution of minors. Most scandalous of all are the corrupt police officers who participate in the murder of countless street children every year, treating it as a form of 'pest control'. If nothing else, "Pixote..." refuses to flinch from the reality of these terrible circumstances, depicting rape, murder, glue-sniffing and robbery with an uncompromising level of detail. However, those seeking exploitation are advised to look elsewhere - these events are outlined against a backdrop of misery and ruined aspirations, in a crumbling landscape where even the smallest flicker of hope can be cruelly extinguished at any given moment. Worse still, despite the film's campaigning nature and its international theatrical success, these conditions still exist in Brazil today, and Ramos da Silva - whose social standing mirrored that of the character he played - ultimately succumbed to its worst excesses: Unable to escape the bonds of poverty which prevented him from realizing his dreams, he turned to crime and was murdered in 1987, allegedly by local police. His life and death was subsequently dramatized by director Jose Joffily in "Who Killed Pixote?" (Quem Matou Pixote?, 1996).

Whatever you think of the film, New Yorker's region 1 DVD (which runs 127m 34s) is a huge disappointment. The tatty-looking print and crackly soundtrack (two-channel mono) could be forgiven, but this 1.85:1 movie has been transferred in full-screen format only, resulting in quite a bit of panning-and-scanning and a number of cuts from one side of the image to the other, to accommodate two or more characters speaking to one another from opposite sides of the screen (cf. the brief sequence at 1:14:52, for example). In fact, the cropping is absolutely horrendous! This may have been the only print available to New Yorker, but it's difficult to recommend such a cramped and ugly-looking presentation to anyone. The optional English subtitles are excellent, however.


Hauntingly Infective   December 22, 1999
Richard O'Dell (Columbia, MD USA)
9 out of 9 found this review helpful

I saw this film in the theater as a first release movie and still remember its disturbing images to this day. While most movies show the innocent dream world we like to think children live in, Pixote slithers and crawls through a dark and surreal world unknown to most of us -- yet it is a world with recondite beauty because Pixote knows no other. We see things happen that would be totally unacceptable in the antiseptic world of civilization but our little protagonists does not seem to see his world as anything but normal. With the self-survival morals of any jungle animal, he goes about his day-to-day life. And this juxtaposing of morals leads to a little bit of an internal conflict with the viewer before the end of the movie. I highly recommend this film to anyone but would warn you that if the "Pollyanna" world of children is what you think exists and want to see, this film with keep you awake for quiet a few nights.


Powerful insight!!   May 18, 2004
Patrick J. Atkinson (Bismarck, ND United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful

This is perhaps one of the most accurate depictions of life on the streets for millions of homeless, and parentless, children around the world. Vivid. Hard-hitting. Certainly not for the weak of stomach. Pixote tells the straight story of a young child's search for "familia", security and the realization of every child's dream for opportunity...... and of the sex, drugs, loneliness, violence and brutality that he finds instead in the streets. A great learning tool for students, social workers, law enforcement and those in the ministry: you will NEVER view street children the same after watching this. (...)


A bitter and unforgettable nightmare !   August 31, 2004
Hiram Gomez Pardo (Valencia, Venezuela)
7 out of 8 found this review helpful

This cult movie meant the major achievement of his master brazilian director Hector Babienco .
Inspired in the deepest roots of this ancient artistic movement the italian neo realism (in honor the first sample of this artistic category was born with a Jean Renour film of 1934 : Tony), Babenco camera literally is a merciless eye which scrutinizes every little detail and the unboreable atmosphere of the painful childhood in the streets of Brazil . In this case Fernando Ramos Da Silva (Pixote) made a glamorous debut as actor , where he becomes in adult without having lived his deserved childhood dreams and normal illusions of this age .
The cruelty will be its fellow partner ; so the world of the crime , prostitution , drugs and crookness will be the eternal friends in his miserable existence .
Fernado Ramos could never abandon such life level and years later he died victim of several shots in one of these countless favelas (this is the brazilian therm which designs the poorest neighborhood on the hills of the city).
The four most remarkable films which I remind closer to this in which its powerful and merciless social realism concerns are Salaam Bombay of Mira Nair 1989 ; Brutti , sporchi e cattivi a little gem of 1976 directed by Ettore Scola ; the other one is Mamma Roma of Pier Paolo Pasolini of the early sixties and that unforgettable film of Roberto Roselini Germania Anno Zero of the middle forties.
This film won the prize as Best Foreign Film of the L.A. Films Citics Association and the New York Film Critics of 1981 .
Babenco was the lone star of the brazilian filmography in the eighties . He would be the director of that painful Ironweed with Meryl Streep and Jack Nicholson.


Must see.....   February 27, 2005
Michael J. Mccann (Atlanta, Georgia)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

Hector Babenco's tale of homeless children in Brazil is devastating. Must rank with some of the great films ever.

The film stars 10-year old Fernando Ramos da Silva, who was an illiterate kid plucked from the streets of Sao Paulo. At the beginning of the film, a judge has been murdered and kids are rounded up and sent to a reformatory. Pixote witnesses a brutal rape his first night. He quickly adapts to the chaotic and often inhumane atmosphere. Corrupt police pin the crime on one of Pixote's friends and brutally murder him. They pin his murder on a second friend, and proceed to kill him.

Pixote and friends escape to the streets of Sao Paulo where they resume their life of crime. The friends are Lillica, a transvestite soon to turn 18, Dito, Lillica's lover and ring-leader, and Chico. The friends meet Cristal, a drug dealer who sends them to Rio to sell cocaine. A drug deal gone awry costs Chico his life and Pixote kills the perpetrator, a prostitute named Debora. The three boys hook up with another prostitute named Sueli, played by Marilia Pera in an unforgettable performance.

There is a sadness in Pixote's eyes that is unforgettable. He accepts his descent into hell in a matter-of-fact manner. Viewers will have difficulty deciding whether he sympathetic or not. He is only ten, has a baby face, and faces horrible circumstances. At the same time, he is an eager participant in the crimes that take place. The portrayal of what Brazil's awful conditions do to the young and innocent is heartbreaking.