pixote be direct with barely a shred of sentimentality . and yet i more than imagine hector babenco owe some of his film make chop with this film to vittorio de sica neo realist style and in particular shoeshine ( that film and a with pixote and take place mostly inside a child prison ) . and yet while i might still prefer de sica film if it come down to decide between the two it so close because it be and no pun intend and like choose between two child . theyre both marvelous work of raw drama and and with pixote babenco have an extra edge and harrow quality to deal with in that this isn not film in condition bring on after a world war . this be how it be in brazil one would see it with slightly more flair and awe in city of god and perhaps in some of the same location and these child be on the street before and after the film be make . some aren not alive some 20 plus year later and for all anyone know . the star and pre teen street kid fernando ramos da silva and play the title character and a youth without a father or really any family who will look out for him and and place among dozen of other street kid and delinquent in a reformatory for boy . the condition couldn not be much bad and and be make even more unbearable a two child be kill one after the other by some cause of the guard duty . there a riot and and an escape and and halfway through the film we find pixote with a few other youth and include lilica a practical transvestite not even 18 and and they become pickpocket and drug dealer and whatever to get by . none of this and i should repeat and be show with a kind of ham fisted earnestness certainly you would never in a million year see ron howard or paul haggis direct this kind of picture and yet there an emotional honesty to everything exactly because nothing be trivialize . nearly every scene be significant to show how fragile life be for pixote and and how he could be kill or die some way at any turn and and so without even reach puberty yet he have to be on the level of those around him who be a little older ( though not by much at all ) and become thing that will haunt this person forever . despite babenco usage of a tender and mournful musical score and one or two scene with people cry a lot and nothing feel force . a with de sica and maybe more so give the consistent condition of san paolo and rio street kid and he a natural director of child and and coax out of ramos da silva and jorge julião and others some really fine work that provide just the right touch of cinematic drama ( that be not so real that it become documentary and which isn not a bad thing per say ) and even subtlety in some scene . pixote may not be as well know a it later 21st century brazilian film that look back on the horror of rio and or even neo realist film and but it should be . anyone want to get a good and hard glimpse at what it be like should seek it out at a library or other and soak in what be the best foreign film of 1981 .