Pixote **** (1980, Fernando Ramos da Silva, Jorge Julião, Marília Pêra) – Classic Movie Review 11,607

Director Hector Babenco’s controversial 1980 Brazilian documentary-like drama Pixote is an overwhelmingly powerful and depressing film about a young orphan boy Pixote (Fernando Ramos da Silva) who embarks on a career as a child criminal on the streets of São Paolo, being used in muggings and drug transport.

Pixote is one of four young boys who escape from a hellish stay in a dictatorial reformatory and return to their lives as child street pickpockets, prostitutes, drug dealers and even killers.

Pixote is incisively made, and the boy, 12 years old at the time, is extremely credible in a role similar to his own upbringing, and so are the other amateur actors. But the subject matter is so problematic and disturbing that the film is hard to watch. Nevertheless, grim though it is, it is a potent, remarkable film, in the vein of Italian neorealism.

It is shot in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro and features scenes of Rio’s beaches and historical places in São Paulo such as ‘Viaduto do Chá’ and the statue ‘Monumento às Bandeiras’ at the Ibirapuera Park.

Jorge Julião is notable as Lilica and Marília Pêra also features notably as Sueli.

Controversial elements include the brutal depiction of sex involving children, and scenes of children killing and drug trafficking. One of the main characters is Lilica (Jorge Julião), a 17-year-old sex worker who sees older men. The film was attacked for its sensationalistic and sordid treatment of gay sex. It is a complex, hot potato of a film, with mixed messages.

Héctor Babenco (February 7, 1946 – July 13, 2016).

The screenplay is by Babenco and Jorge Durán, based on the book A Infância dos Mortos (The Childhood of the Dead Ones) by José Louzeiro about Brazil’s delinquent youth and how they are used by corrupt police and crime organisations to commit crimes

Fernando Ramos da Silva, who was picked out of 1,300 applicants by Hector Babenco to play Pixote, became a controversial figure after the film’s release and was killed on 25 August 1987 at the age of 19 by Brazilian police in São Paulo, shot seven times by three policemen who claim he was resisting arrest. There are eyewitness conflicting reports claiming he was unarmed and a forensic examination showed he had been shot while lying on the ground.

The cast are Fernando Ramos da Silva as Pixote, Jorge Julião as Lilica, Gilberto Moura as Dito, Edilson Lino as Chico, Zenildo Oliveira Santos as Fumaça, Claudio Bernardo as Garatao, Israel Feres David as Roberto Pie de Plata, Jose Nilson Martin dos Santos as Diego, Marília Pêra as Sueli, Jardel Filho as Sapatos Brancos, Rubens de Falco as Juiz, Elke Maravilha as Debora, Tony Tornado as Cristal, Beatriz Segall as Widower and João José Pompeo as Almir.

It was first screened on 26 September 1980 in Brazil.

Original title: Pixote: A Lei do Mais Fraco.

Héctor Babenco (February 7, 1946 – July 13, 2016) was an Argentine-Brazilian film director, whose best-known works include Pixote (1980), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), Ironweed (1987), At Play in the Fields of the Lord (1991) and Carandiru (2003).

Fernando Ramos da Silva (29 November 1967 – 25 August 1987).

Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 11,607

Link to Derek Winnert’s home page for more reviews: http://derekwinnert.com/