Pixote  

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Pixote: a Lei do Mais Fraco (English: Pixote: The Law of the Weakest), (1981) is a Brazilian drama film directed by Hector Babenco. The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jorge Durán, based on the book A infância dos mortos (The Childhood of the Dead Ones) by José Louzeiro.

It is the chilling, documentary-like account of Brazil's delinquent youth and how they are used by corrupt police and other crime organizations to commit crimes.

The film features Fernando Ramos Da Silva (who was tragically murdered at the age of 19 by Brazilian police in São Paulo) as Pixote and Marília Pêra as Sueli.

The plot revolves around Pixote, a young boy who is used as a child criminal in muggings and drug transport.

Plot

After a police round up of street children, Pixote (Fernando Ramos da Silva) a 10-year-old boy is sent to a juvenile reformatory (FEBEM). The prison is a hellish school where Pixote uses glue sniffing as a means of emotional escape from the constant threats of abuse and rape.

It soon becomes clear that the young criminals are only pawns in the criminal, sadistic games of the prison guards and their commander.

When a boy dies of physical abuse by the guards, the officials frame (and ultimately kill) the lover of the trans woman known as Lilica (Jorge Julião) for the murder.

Soon after, Pixote, his friend Chico (Edílson Lino), Lilica and her new lover Dito (Gilberto Moura) find an opportunity to flee from the prison. First, they stay at the apartment of Cristal (Tony Tornado), a former lover of Lilica, but when tensions arise they go to Rio for a cocaine drug deal; there, however, they get duped by showgirl Débora (Elke Maravilha).

After some time bumming around the city, Pixote and his friends go to a club for another drug deal. While there, Pixote finds Débora and stabs her.

They become pimps for the prostitute Sueli (Marília Pêra) who is definitely past her prime and is ill — possibly from a botched abortion. The group conspires to rob her johns, but when Lilica's lover Dito falls for Sueli, Lilica leaves. The robbery scheme fails when an American john fights back (because he apparently does not understand Portuguese) so they have to shoot him. In the ensuing fight, Pixote accidentally shoots and kills Dito as well.

Pixote tries to gain comfort from Sueli, treating her as a mother figure by sucking on her breast, but she rejects him out of disgust. He leaves and is seen walking down a railway line, gun in hand, away from the camera, his figure disappearing in the distance, out of the camera's view.

Cast




Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Pixote" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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