Film School: Pixote (1981)

By Adam Thomas

Sunday October 15, 2006

Directed by Hector Babenco
Capturing the grim and desperate reality of a world fuelled by poverty and violence, Babenco enlisted a group of non-professional actors, mostly actual street kids to play criminals and delinquents, and first-time actor Fernando Ramos da Silva is mesmerising as Pixote, a child abandoned by his parents, who escapes the brutal world of a Brazilian orphanage to become a street hustler, pimp, and murderer, all before the age of 11. The photography is simple but works to compound the bleak story, and the compassion and sympathy you feel for Pixote is both tragic and immense.