Pixote (1980) User Reviews (58)

Masterpiece

[oOgiandujaOo_and_Eddy_Merckx · 9/10 · 10 January 2011]

Following the robbery homicide of a Brazilian judge by a street gang, the authorities make a sweep of the local street kids in the area and intern them in a young offender's institution. The film is in part a social issue film where the way the children are treated by the system is condemned and in part a story about a young lad who grows old far too soon. The social issue, although maybe broadly relevant, is hardly au courant some three decades after the film was made, however I didn't feel like this detracted much from the film due to the excellent characterisations and strong story line. It's also not limited by the generics of the prison movie as a lot of the action takes place outside the prison walls.

The main character, an extremely small boy, Pixote (pronounced Pichote), is especially winsome and actually played by a real life delinquent who was subsequently shot by police in a shoot-out. He has developed a firmness of independent judgement and level of character that you generally only find in people well into adulthood, something that he's had to do to survive. It's painfully clear at some points though that he is just a skinny little boy that needs his mother.

There is charisma to spare in the acting performances, including a youngster who does an extremely catchy homage to Roberto Carlos (the great Brazilian singer as opposed to football player) for the prison gig, and appears destined for stardom if he can stay alive.

The kids are in peril because the police are beating them to death in order to find out who killed the judge, whilst the incompetent prison authorities turn a blind eye and fall into a state of apathy concerning the well-being of their wards (see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil).

Babenco appears fascinated by prison culture and in both this film and his return to the genre with Carandiru (2003) he uses nakedness to remind us of the fundamental vulnerability of the human captives in his film. In the poster for Carandiru you can see the survivors of a prison riot lying naked in a yard, stripped of their clothes (in which they could conceal weapons), in Pixote a "hole" packed with naked children. Beaten, unclothed and helpless it's quite easy to connect with the camouflage of swagger and defiance that they need to survive is taken away. Fundamentally a human is a fragile creature that hurts and most of their persona is just a coping strategy.

There's a dream-like feel to a lot of the film, which is often brazenly erotic (the transvestite Lilica dancing in front of a crowd whilst having her under carriage rubbed by an onlooker's raised foot), and anarchical. It's not easy to label the film as nightmarish because some of the experiences, even when negative, are extremely rich, and the friendships heartfelt.

A classic faux pas of many non-Anglo movies is that whenever whites appear, they are cardboard cutouts, but here the old American john is as well-realised and succinctly characterised as he could be.

Favourite scenes of mine include the post-glue-sniffing fascination of Pixote, and the half-lit dormitory riot which is truly mad.

Unforgettable

[givnaw · 7/10 · 23 September 2002]

This is no walk in the park. I saw this when it came out, and haven't had the guts to watch it again. You will never see a more horrifyingly devastating or depressing movie. I felt like I'd been severely beaten. What kind of world are we living in when we have children who are treated worse than garbage? This is our world, what we have created, what we have allowed to happen. And I would hesitate to say that I-ME-WE are not responsible for this. Babenco made this film to wake us up, to shake us to our very core, and he succeeded. How can we be cruel, or self-indulgent, or neglectful of our children, when we see the graphic results of such behavior? He is pointing a finger of accusation at us all for doing this to the lowliest and least powerful of our society. And if you aren't doing something each day to prevent it, then you are part of the problem. I am NOT a religious fanatic, but this movie made me think about the state of my soul.

Growing up way before their time

[bkoganbing · 9/10 · 9 July 2016]

When one thinks of the Brazilian cinema it is this film Pixote which comes to mind. Hector Babenco gives us one uncompromising and brutal look at the lives of the street boys in Brazil's largest city Sao Paulo. One only hopes that it is 35 years since Pixote was released and the hope is things have improved for these kids who have to grow up way before their time.

The films centers on the title character played by a young actor who himself never made it out of the slums. Babenco used real street kid Fernando Ramos DaSilva as the ten year old Pixote who was killed at the age of 19 in a homicide that still raises questions. One thing this film does show is that Anglo-Saxon jurisprudence didn't make it to Brazil, especially for the young.

We see things in Pixote that you would never see in American cinema portrayed even now. Rape in a juvenile detention center is the established norm here, especially when it involves Jorge Juliao, a young cross dressing street kid. When the slightly older Gilberto Moura uses sex to assert authority over Juliao it's both frightening and touching. Poor Juliao has one rotten opinion of his own self worth from his experience. One gets the impression that home wasn't all that much better. But these things were being shown way before America even knew there were transgender issues. Juliao even more than DaSilva is who you remember from Pixote.

35 years later Pixote is a powerful and disturbing film.

emotionally devastating Brazilian film

[junagadh75 · 26 May 2002]

"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.

Heartbreaking

[nickbassett1981 · 10/10 · 19 May 2004]

The violent death of Fernando Ramos Da Silva only eight years after the completion of this film, only adds to the poignancy of dierector BAbenco's powerful message. The film is split into two halves - the first in a reformatory where a group of youngsters are abused and violated by the violent law enforcers and guardians. The second backdrop is the city where they are confined instead by their own actions and morality, which includes mugging, pimping and killing different characters who enter their lives.

The differing gender and sexual roles in the film allow for constant changes in the characters as they interact with other people. Particularly interesting is teh character of Lalica, a transvestite who is mother and lover to some of the children. Her reaction to the arrival of Sueli, a prostitute is both poignant and tragic.

There is no happy ending to this story and i reccomend to watch it with caution as there are some very uncomfortable scenes to watch especially in teh opening twenty minutes. But whilst watching it, it is important to remember that this is not just a fictional tale. The actors are not trained professionals but instead boys selected from the streetsof Sao Paulo. They actually lived this life that is portrayed so vividly on screen and in da Silva's case, died at the hands of the police who are depicted so brutally. A documentary? A piece of fiction. It borders on both but it certainly makes for heart wrenching material and is a film that actually leaves you breathless and thinking long after having watched it.

10/10

Horror

[world2you · 10/10 · 16 March 2005]

"Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco" deals with what is perhaps the greatest of all Brazilian themes: poverty. And along with poverty the other unnatural feelings and actions it brings; prostitution, violence, crime, rape and murder.

Brazil is the country of paradoxes, and its social problems are present everywhere. The difference between the rich and the poor; the beautiful and the ugly; happiness and the most profound human decay.

"Pixote" is one of the films that dare to touch and open these so painful wounds, and does it without the slightest glimmer of hope, in an honest portrayal of a country that, like Pixote himself, is already lost.

If this doesn't get to you, you must be made of stone.

[shneur · 10/10 · 12 November 2005]

This is a difficult movie to watch, and would have been even more difficult had I known then that the actor playing the protagonist was in fact killed in his home by police at age 19. Pixote (PeeWee) is a street kid in Sao Paulo who is caught in a roundup triggered by a murder in which he had no involvement. He is committed to a juvenile prison where he witnesses brutality and exploitation that ordinary citizens try very hard to believe doesn't exist. When finally he escapes, he and three comrades survive by the only means they know, which is crime. What makes the film so heart-rending is that both Pixote and the actor portraying him clearly do not wish to be the characters life circumstances have made them. Pixote tries to trust and to love and to bond, but there simply is no room in his world for the gentle side of human nature. One is left at the end wanting desperately to do something for the Pixotes of the world, but what? Building more children's's prisons with higher walls surely is not the answer...

...emotionally devastating...

[jeek · 10/10 · 12 July 1999]

"Pixote" is the one of most powerful, shocking, and moving motion picture to come from Brazil. It's about the lives of street kids on the streets of Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, and it centers around a ten-year-old boy. The camera follows them around in an almost documentary style;from the juvenile detention center (where most of the staff is as corrupt as the police) and back to the streets, and it never turns away from the horrors of the city. Prostitution, drug use/dealing, corruption, and murder are all witnessed by these youths; yet it's something they're painfully used to. Director Hector Babenco used real street kids as the actors, adding to the films brutal reality. Although not for everyone, a film I highly recommend. An emotionally devastating movie.

Horrifying but fascinating

[preppy-3 · 10/10 · 17 August 2006]

The film opens with the director talking to the camera and saying he is going to show a story about Brazilain street kids whose families live in poverty and must steal and kill to survive. In fact the main character (Pixote) was played by an actual street kid only 11 years old. What follows was one of the most brutal, depressing and horrifying film I've even seen. I saw it about 17 years ago (on a double bill with "Black Orpheus") and have never forgotten it. I don't think I ever want to see it again--it was just too much.

SPOILER AHEAD!!!! The scene which will not leave me is when Pixote meets a prostitute who has to abort her own fetus. You don't see her do it...but you get a quick glance at what she got out. It's almost 20 years later and just recalling that scene upsets me. SPOILER END!!!!!

The movie gets more brutal as it goes along and ends the only way it can. What's all the more harrowing is stories like this really did happen in Brazil in 1981...and are STILL happening today.

A harrowing brutal film...but it should be seen if you can handle it. I'm surprised this got an R rating--I've seen X rated film that are less graphic. A 10.

Brutal, Horrific Masterpiece

[mackjay2 · 9/10 · 9 April 2020]

A masterpiece of despair and corruption, never losing sight of humanity. Amid the squalor of a São Paulo youth detention center we find Pixote, a child of about 12 who becomes the center of this often brutal and horrific film. Through the boy's eyes we see the rotting corruption of police and city authorities who spout good intentions, but never follow up. Murder is almost an everyday occurance, and it's often deemed necessary in this world. Pixote and three friends escape and eventually end up in Rio, where things are no better. They know their lives are seen as worthless, so they take what they can through robbery and drug dealing. Living in the home of Sueli--a monstrous prostitute--the boys all meet a turning point in one way or another and Pixote has learned, far too soon for his age, the hardest lessons of life. Brilliantly directed and acted by a mostly non-professional cast, featuring some very promising talent. PIXOTE can resemble the later CITY OF GOD, another great film on similar themes, but it has unforgettable qualities all its own. Hector Babenco would go on to direct other things, but nothing really can rival the power of PIXOTE. An essential part of world cinema.

Harsh exploitation

[Coralknight · 5/10 · 28 December 2016]

The film Pixote embodies the word exploitation on several levels. Set in 1970's/80s Brazil, the central theme is that of "throw away" marginalized children, who for various reasons find themselves at the mercy of state institutions. While there are many Latin American films of this genre going back as far as the 1950s (i.e. the Mexican classic "Los Olvidados"), the difference here is the realistic style using type-cast non-actors. The sad reality is that these same children/non-actors were in effect victimized themselves for this film; "discovered" (like the lead character) by the film crew off the streets due to their economic desperation, and thus willingness to do anything on film. There are some very blatantly homosexual/pedophile scenes with gratuitous nudity of young/adolescent children, along with other scenes where the lead is made to witness and participate in some very explicit sexual acts. While the film's message is clear, the point could have been made without sacrificing the childhood of these actors (and if anyone here knows the story of what became of those who participated in the film, they will know exactly why).

Brilliant and Brutal

[he_hate_me-1 · 12 April 2004]

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.

Pixote - The real story

[beautyinsideout-1 · 10/10 · 2 April 2006]

I'm originally from Brazil... the sad thing about this movie was the exploitation that was done to that boy. They told his life story and he never got one "centavo" (Brazilian cent) of that movie. Fernando is not the first and will not be the last to go through that life style in Brazil. Sad... but that is the world we live in. It's about making money not saving lives. Question is: Where is Fernando today? Most probably... dead. We tend to want to live in this "Disney filled fantasy bubbled life". When someone comes up to the plate to help... along comes the higher power and says: "What do I get from this? Where's my cut?" - I wish people's conscience would speak up!

Necessary horror.

[ShaeSpencer · 9/10 · 16 August 2020]

This film takes a hard, lingering look at the brutal horrors visited on and enacted by a group of poor kid criminals in Brazil. This is one of the most deeply disturbing movie experiences I've ever had. And yet, it almost felt necessary to continue to watch, to at the very least acknowledge the sorts of situations depicted here as real events that happen to real people. Masterfully made.

RIP Fernando Ramos da Silva, and anyone else in the film gone

[Quinoa1984 · 10/10 · 31 January 2009]

Pixote is directed with barely a shred of sentimentality. And yet I more than imagine Hector Babenco owes some of his film-making chops with this film to Vittorio De Sica's neo-realist style, in particular Shoeshine (that film, as with Pixote, takes place mostly inside a children's prison). And yet while I might still prefer De Sica's film if it came down to deciding between the two it's so close because it is, no pun intended, like choosing between two children. They're both marvelous works of raw drama, and with Pixote Babenco has an extra edge and harrowing quality to deal with in that this isn't filmed in conditions brought on after a world war. This is how it was in Brazil- one would see it with slightly more flair and awe in City of God, perhaps in some of the same locations- and these children were on the streets before and after the film was made. Some aren't alive some 20+ years later, for all anyone knows.

The "star", pre-teen street kid Fernando Ramos da Silva, plays the title character, a youth without a father or really any family who will look out for him, and placed among dozens of other street kids and delinquents in a reformatory for boys. The conditions couldn't be much worse, and are made even more unbearable as two children are killed one after the other by some cause of the guard duty. There's a riot, and an escape, and halfway through the film we find Pixote with a few other youths, including Lilica a practical transvestite not even 18, and they become pickpockets, drug dealers, whatever to get by. None of this, I should repeat, is shown with a kind of ham-fisted earnestness- certainly you would never in a million years see Ron Howard or Paul Haggis direct this kind of picture- and yet there's an emotional honesty to everything exactly because nothing is trivialized.

Nearly every scene is significant to showing how fragile life is for Pixote, and how he could be killed or die some way at any turn, and so without even reaching puberty yet he has to be on the level of those around him who are a little older (though not by much at all) and become things that will haunt this person forever. Despite Babenco's usage of a tender and mournful musical score and one or two scenes with people crying a lot, nothing feels forced. As with De Sica, maybe more-so given the consistent conditions of San Paolo and Rio street kids, he's a natural director of children, and coax's out of Ramos da Silva and Jorge Julião and others some really fine work that provides just the right touches of "cinematic" drama (that is not so real that it becomes documentary, which isn't a bad thing per-say) and even subtlety in some scenes.

Pixote may not be as well known as it's later 21st century Brazilian films that look back on the horrors of Rio, or even neo-realist films, but it should be. Anyone wanting to get a good, hard glimpse at what it was like should seek it out at a library or other and soak in what is the best foreign film of 1981.

A great raw movie

[pj_malone · 9/10 · 24 August 2005]

This is probably the best movie from director Hector Babenco. It shows a Brazilian reality unknown by foreigners, which is the same reality that haunts all of the Latin American countries, poverty and a survival instinct. The most affected in this reality is the children usually left orphans, or abandoned by their poor parents have to make it in a "dog eat dog" society many times falling into the gap of delinquency, prostitution and crime. Very well acted and with a "no frills" approach, this movie will get to you, Great story plot, a must have movie on anybody's collection. The starring role went to Fernando Ramos da Silva, a young boy who fell into the crime wave, killed some years later during a robbery. I would suggest people to watch the movie "Who killed Pixote?" so you can have a more in depth idea of the lives of these characters. Some other Characters from the movie had a similar fate, some died and others are in jail. None the less this movie will last for a long time in your memory

Brazilian director Hector Babenco shows why it is difficult to change the fate of homeless children in his country.

[FilmCriticLalitRao · 10/10 · 13 October 2014]

The military use of children as soldiers continues to disturb all peace loving people as a wrong message is sent by making them go to war. However, a different kind of war is continually being waged in Brazil which is considered to be one of the most dangerous places in the world. It concerns the involvement of young, homeless children in various senseless acts of violence. This contemporary topic has been deftly handled by famous Brazilian director Hector Babenco in his film "Pixote, the law of the weakest" which is brutal yet an honest film about the vicious circle of violence whose victims happen to be children who have all been rejected by their families. Holding family members responsible for the plight of their children, Hector Babenco shows how poor children are forced to choose a criminal career path as they have been abandoned by their family members. Although "Pixote" was made in 1981, it has not aged a bit due to its status as a work of reference documenting the plight of homeless Brazilian children. Some scenes and situations might shock sensitive viewers but "Pixote" doesn't fail to deliver home the message that life is stranger and harsher than filmed images as this film's protagonist Fernando Ramos da Silva was killed in 1987. His death was the result of police brutality, an action which continues to give bad press to Brazil.

Harsh and true

[guisreis · 8/10 · 9 October 2022]

Well made, quite depressing. Children deprived of childhood. Violence follow them everyday, and life inside a juvenile reformatory is definitely not less violent, particularly during military dictatorship. Rape, murder, humiliation, unfair punishment, absolute lack of rights, care, trust, respect. Very harsh scenes. Violence is present even when the boys are playing, in the rare moments when they remember a little that they are still children. Sex is also present very early, and in the most unhealthy and brutal ways. Both lack of compassion and sadism are learned and reproduced in a vicious circle. Numerous violent deaths happen and are regretted, but make a living, or just survival, goes on, until its own violent interruption. Unfortunately, real life of young actor in the leading role would indeed be interrupted less than a decade afterwards.

The most unpleasant film I have ever watched

[blrnani · 1/10 · 13 January 2021]

Equivalent to filming someone taking a crap, from the point of view of the toilet bowl. It is tempting to feel sorry for these people, but when one considers all the millions of people living in similar circumstances who actually manage to lead dignified lives and raise their children to be honest citizens one realises there are choices and that our lives are inevitably marked by the ones we make. For a very different perspective, watch "Waste Land", a true documentary that inspires instead of wallowing in the filth.

Not for the faint hearted

[aash-2 · 27 August 2003]

I first saw Pixote over 20 years ago, and the thing that I always think about the movie is how, when I was first watching it, my friend who was also watching it nudged me and whispered "His face...look at his face", referring to Fernando Ramos De Silva. "His face is growing harder, and older, and angry...how do you ACT that?" It's true: watch the movie and you'll notice that the face of Pixote becomes visibly more and more changed over time due to the life that he lives. The see-saw of the "adult" means of which he's forced by circumstance to live his life and the reality of being a boy, a little boy alone, looking not only to survive but to gain at least a small semblance of childhood that is pretty much a lost cause. I think the most heart-rending scene is when he nurses at the breast of the prostitute - not for sex, but because of his need to have a mother, to be only a baby nursing at his mother's breast. You see that, and you also see that the prostitute recognizes his suckling for what it is, and for a moment she accepts this, and encourages this, until she remembers who she is, and that she is not about to undertake raising a child. She then stops his nursing and sends him away.

And that's just one moment out of so many in this movie. This is a film that, without being in the least exploitive, nonetheless throws doors open wide to let the viewer see exactly what exists on the streets of Brazil (reminding us that if it exists there, the chances are pretty good that the same sort of thing exists elsewhere). It doesn't show us anything but the truth. There's no need for embellishment - the actuality is sobering enough. It's a hard movie to watch. I haven't watched it since I've had children of my own - truthfully, I've been kind of afraid to. I will again, though. This movie is too, too good to see only once, even if once is all you think that you can stand.

One of the Best Films Released in the Last Half Century

[NoDakTatum · 10/10 · 14 November 2023]

Once in a while, you can grab a film you have never heard of, watch it, and have your life changed. This happened with "Pixote," a horrifying look at a Brazilian street child. Director Babenco introduces the film, and we meet Pixote (pronounced Peh-Shot), played by Fernando Ramos Da Silva. He is an eleven year old homeless boy who is rounded up with other boys from the streets of Sao Paulo and taken to a reform school run by the tyrannical Sapato (Jardel Filho). There has been a judge murdered in the streets, and the homeless thieves are always convenient suspects. There is a law in Brazil that no one under eighteen can be tried as an adult, so children up to that age are committing crimes from petty larceny to murder, and get thrown into reform schools as punishment. During Pixote's first night, another boy is sexually assaulted and Pixote must become tougher to fit in. His little boy hair is cropped off, and he smokes pot with friend Fumaca (Zenildo Oliveira Santos). They observe the homosexual transvestite Lilica (Jorge Juliao) being accused of the murder by crooked cop Almir (Joao Jose Pompen), but Lilica refuses to confess to a crime they did not commit. Life in the reform school is hell on earth. The boys watch violent television shows, and role play elaborate bank robberies they plan to carry out when they are released. Family visitation day comes, and Pixote is visited by his uncaring grandfather. Soon after, a bunch of the boys are taken to a staged lineup at the local police station, and they decide to pin the murder on Fumaca. He is not returned to the reform school until after the others, and Pixote sees him there, he himself in the infirmary recovering from huffing glue. Fumaca has been beaten so severely he dies of his injuries, and his body is dumped in a landfill. The police then decide to pin Fumaca's murder on another kid, who fights back and is also beaten to death. He was Lilica's lover, and Lilica leads a revolt that results in fires being set in the dormitory. As Lilica gets set up for the latest murder, he slashes his wrists and goes to the infirmary. The boys escape through Lilica's window, and they form a mini-crime spree through Sao Paolo. The group consists of Lilica, Pixote, Dito (Gilberto Moura), and Chico (Edilson Lino). The second half of the film somehow gets even darker.

I had a difficult time getting through this film because of what was happening to the children. I have not been this bothered by a film about homeless children since the documentary "Streetwise." Babenco cannot be accused of softening the story or turning the camera away during the rough scenes, sparing his audience. If your idea of homeless children and prostitutes are special episodes of "Baywatch" or the laughably awful "Pretty Woman," then this may not be the film for you. Pixote sees so much death and mayhem in his life, he is surviving by instinct. He is not a brilliant boy trying to better himself, he is just trying to stay vertical and keep breathing. The drug and sex scenes are rough, and Babenco does not turn these young addicts into heroes like "Trainspotting" or "Drugstore Cowboy." Drug abuse is nothing glamorous or funny, it is dark and scary. Marilia Pera's Sueli is not a hooker with a heart of gold, she is a robber and a con artist. Her scene with Pixote in the bathroom, where she threatens to do to him what she recently did to an object in a nearby garbage can is chilling and revolting. Babenco had enough confidence in his script and actors to let the camera seek out the characters without getting into their faces, or showing off for the viewer. I never noticed any fancy editing or cool soundtrack, and Babenco turns us into a fly on the wall watching everything going on with fascination and repulsion. He also directed the leisurely "Ironweed," the underrated "At Play in the Fields of the Lord," and the good but not great "Kiss of the Spider Woman." This was his breakout film, and it is apparent he had more passion for the screenplay that he cowrote than he did to just make a big splash and move on to Hollywood. The cast is excellent. Actual impoverished children were recruited for the film, a check of IMDB shows this was the only work many of them ever did onscreen. The two stand outs are Lilica and Pixote. Jorge Juliao does not portray Lilica as a prancing homosexual, although he seems that way on the surface. He is out for romantic love, and will sleep with anyone to get it. His jealousy with Dito and Sueli's relationship is natural, especially when the two make love on the same bed Lilica and Pixote are sitting on. Lilica is so desperate for love, he projects these feelings on other men immediately, barely finding time to get to know them before having sex and trying to keep them physically.

Fernando Ramos Da Silva. It is a cliche, but he does not play Pixote, he is Pixote. I have never seen such sad eyes on a child before. For such a young boy, Babenco puts him through some scenes that grown men could not possibly pull off. There is a ton of nudity, drug abuse, a wet nurse scene with Pera, shootings, stabbings, and Fernando goes through them like a professional. I remember the brouhaha over Tatum O'Neal smoking cigarettes in "Paper Moon," those critics obviously never saw this film. The saddest aspect of "Pixote" does not happen on film. Fernando was illiterate, and unable to memorize dialogue in order to audition and get more screen work. He was gunned down before his twentieth birthday by police who say he was involved in a robbery, although the charges do not seem to have been concrete. Looking at this boy, with his toothy grin and sad eyes, and knowing his life probably served as a nonexistent sequel to "Pixote" is something that stayed with me for years to come. Another film, "Who Killed Pixote?," takes a look at Fernando's short life and untimely death. In the end, the film is brilliant. The story flows. The realism had me imagining I could smell the stinking surroundings these children must endure. The acting is great across the board. "Pixote" made it difficult to watch other films without any bias for a while afterward. It is that good.

One of the Greatest Disturbing Brazilian Film that I ever watch

[ongoam · 10/10 · 20 February 2023]

Pixote was entirely to be not a typical Brazilian, and It was unlike the City of God. Created during the Military Dictatorship regime in Brazil, this movie was a brutal depiction that made the City of God and The Wire like James Bond movies; the film tells the story of a child named Pixote and his friend through the morbid Adventure of crime, drugs, and sex, I know that this movie is alarming. I understand that this movie made Fernando Ramos da Silva famous. I know that this movie is one of Martin Scorsese favorite films of all time, and this is one of the favorite Brazilian films that I have ever watched behind City of god.

liked it, was disturbed too

[aintawiwat · 10/10 · 1 August 2002]

Film about the failure of government and the selfishness of adults. Overwhelming impossibility of dealing with life and the means the children go to to try to achieve living. Only living. Staying alive in a cruel world. A nightmare world, we are afraid to watch it because we are seeing truth and are afraid to see it. To see a world of despair when we are all so comfortable in our own lives and even complaining about what we have not got when it is so trivial compared to someone else. They, the children of the movie, are desensitized. They are more than desensitized by what is around them. They see sex as an act, like they are watching a tv program. When the one boy is with the hooker, Pixote is sitting on the bed watching with a blank stare, no feeling. He wants to be a little boy and have a family but the hooker has no compassion either and pushes him away. A "human" film, with "human" relations and moral judgement in a ugly, scared, cruel world. Reminds us that life is not fair, but you can still have a human connection.

Brazil Raw

[gavin6942 · 8/10 · 8 June 2017]

The life of a boy in the streets of Sao Paulo, involved with little crimes, prostitution, and other things under the wing of corrupt police and other criminals.

The film features Fernando Ramos da Silva (who was killed at the age of 19 by Brazilian police in São Paulo) as Pixote. The movie is shot in the manner of a documentary and shows the strong influence by Italian neorealism in that amateur actors were used whose real lives strongly resembled those of the protagonists in the film.

This is by far the most "raw" a film about juvenile crime has ever been. Because of the use of minors and the nudity / violence, this sort of film could probably not be made in the United States or much of Europe. But it never feels exploitative. Rather, it feels honest and true. And that is why it becomes a must-see.

If it was bad......today it is getting worst!!

[elo-equipamentos · 8/10 · 3 September 2018]

I was a teenager when this picture was released in the theatre, but those time Brazil was under military rule, l'd visited a slum where an aunt mine lived for a couple time, l'd realized some strong poverty for all people whose lived in such place, somehow my country were in economic expansion allowed for to many people oportunities to get a proper job and they got it so easily, by the way all things shown in this picture were real, but nowadays with the new drugs like "Crack" and the new parallel powers of the gangs like PCC and CV who rule all slums over country the whole thing is getting worst sadly, Pixote was a little sample what really are happening today, unfortunately Brazil was under an old corrupt pratices for a long time and even changing the political parties along lastest years the things didn't changes nothing and the people doesn't help too much too!!!

Resume:

First watch: 1987 / How many: 2 / Source: TV-DVD / Rating: 8