Pixote

Rating:
Summary: excellent film
Review: I thought that this movie was a real eye-opener! I didn't know that you could film child nudity/pornography. I thought that the basic plot of the street kids and reformitories was good. When it began to stray from the basic plot that is when I thought the movie went downhill. I would not recommend this movie to any of my friends. I would only recommend watching this if you are are very bored and want to expand your horizons about child sexuality.

Rating:
Summary: Pixote
Review: I thought that this movie was a real eye-opener! I didn't know that you could film child nudity/pornography. I thought that the basic plot of the street kids and reformitories was good. When it began to stray from the basic plot that is when I thought the movie went downhill. I would not recommend this movie to any of my friends. I would only recommend watching this if you are are very bored and want to expand your horizons about child sexuality.

Rating:
Summary: excellent film
Review: I would recommend this film to anyone who interested in the topic of street children. This film bodly represents the struggles of a young boy trying to find a place in a society that does not want him. There is much graphic nudity but I feel it is needed to capture the viewers attention and suck them into the world of the street child.

Rating:
Summary: to real for confort
Review: if you are looking for a film that captures children in poverty then this is probably one you should watch.
all the kids in this film are not actors. they are actual real life homeless kids that were picked up for this film.
their natural ways were implemented in this film and we get to see what happens to them, they steal for food and end up in a juvenile home, where they are subject to abuse by the gaurds and inmates. the realism of the film is what makes it so good. the way we feel about the main character is that we want to embrace him, take him away so that we dont have to see or believe that this is the world we live in. A powerfull and moving film that should make you think more about children in poverty, i know i did. This film doesnt hold anything back. Be warned that there is some child nudity and a brief rape scene, but dont let this change your mind. if you like foreign films then this is a definite keep.

Rating:
Summary: Hell is For Children -- No Future in the Slums of Brazil!
Review: Pixote is a "throw-away-kid" living in the slums of Sao Paolo, Brazil, surviving by committing petty crimes, but later murdering without signs of any emotion. There are gruesome jail scenes including physical and sexual assault, depicted with a haunting indifference expressed by authority figures. -- This film shows life like it is for millions of children living in dire poverty, offering no solution, but seeking an awareness for their plight. -- This is a powerful film, however please use your discretion showing this video to pre-teens, due to violence and sexual situations.

Rating:
Summary: Hell is For Children -- No Future in the Slums of Brazil!
Review: Pixote is a "throw-away-kid" living in the slums of Sao Paolo, Brazil, surviving by committing petty crimes, but later murdering without signs of any emotion. There are gruesome jail scenes including physical and sexual assault, depicted with a haunting indifference expressed by authority figures. -- This film shows life like it is for millions of children living in dire poverty, offering no solution, but seeking an awareness for their plight. -- This is a powerful film, however please use your discretion showing this video to pre-teens, due to violence and sexual situations.

Rating:
Summary: Pixote
Review: Pixote is a movie about children living in a reformatory for children who get into trouble, or for children without family and homes. Some of these children do not have family and need to steal, because they do not have money to feed themselves. The movie is separated into two sections. The first section, shows the boys in the reformatory. The second section shows the boys living on the streets of Brazil after they escaped the reformatory. Pixote is a child in the reformatory. There are many problems that these boys encounter living in the reformatory. Some of them use drugs, some violate other boys, and some taunt the boys younger than them. This reformatory is not safe for these boys. They do not have families, so they become family with other boys. Some of the boys are found dead. The others do not want to die and the police are not protecting them. They are afraid they will be the next ones killed. Because of this, they escape for the streets of Brazil. The streets are not safe either, but they are free. They need to steal, because they have no money, and they need food. In the beginning they help a drug dealer. They meet a pimp, and buy his prostitute. They live with this woman. She will bring home a man, and later the boys come and rob the man. This is how the get money. The women becomes part of their family. The movie is very grafic with a lot of sex and nudity, but it is reality for some people. It is very sad to see how some people live their lives. Many parts I could not watch, because it was too graphic, but these are things chilren had to go through.

Rating:
Summary: No way out
Review: Pixote is an excellent dramatic review of the children stuck in the poor social class of Brazil. Some scenes are very graphic but are important portrayals of what street dwelling kids in the Sau Paulo area experience. The use of ordinary teenagers to demonstrate this cruel situation is important for viewers to make an honest attempt to imagine this life. Many people are not aware of the awful conditions and the directors do an excellent job shining light on the pains of poor children. Upon the completion of this film, it is especially difficult to contemplate the extreme differences among social classes when considering the trajic ending of Fernando Ramos de Canby who played the role of Pixote. In the movie, Pixote has long given up hope of a stable life and joins the brotherhood of similar souls at the reformitory. He is crying for help however society has already given up and only chose to further punish these throw-away kids. There is no escaping to a happy ending but instead only fate itself will rule their distressing destiny. I truely recommend this film to anyone who is interested in experiencing a cinematic view of the violence, corruption, abuse, and poverty faced by the many unfortunate souls who participate in this lifestyle daily. Keep in mind the age of the viewer. Some scenes definitely are not for small children's eyes.

Rating:
Summary: a view from the inside beyond the statistics
Review: Pixote shocks and informs in a way that transcends our usual immunity mechanisms.

The next morning following viewing this movie a friend directed me to a flash presentation about poverty (URL follows). The Internet site presents a familiar menu of statistics and weary faces; while I became intraspective and moved for a few moments, I now hardly remember what it said.

Pixote keeps you uneasy for two hours; watching children aspire to and do illogical things. You count down the last minutes wondering how it will end. Without being documentary or editorial, Pixote is moving. Statistics condense problems into numbers which are easy to forget and even easier to manipulate. Wealth and technological advancement are important factors that jump out of statistics, but it is how you achieve advancements that determines who is left behind. Pixote is not just poor, his life is valued less than the next drink of cachaca. As a drama it has the essential elements, well done.

The English subtitles on the DVD can be turned off, but were useful to understand unfamiliar slang. Other technical aspects could use some improvement, but the story drew me in enough to forget those.

If Pixote appeals to you, Hour of the Star (A hora de estrela) shouldn't be missed.

(...)

Rating:
Summary: A bitter and unforgettable nightmare !
Review: 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.