this be really a nightmare of a film while i saw it about nine year ago on cable tv and haven not forget it since . pixote be a 10 year old boy who live in the street of sao paulo ( brazil ) and lead a criminal life in the company of his teenage friend lilica and dito and chico while they steal and pimp and sell drug and murder in order to survive each day . in the first half of the film pixote be catch by the police and send to a sadistic foster home where he witness every kind of abuse from the old inmate and guard to the rest of the kid while one night and lilica boyfriend be kill after a beating and so pixote and his friend decide to escape during a riot . the rest of the film show pixote descent into a criminal life while he doesn not show any feeling or remorse after kill someone and maybe because he know that good feeling be of no use in the world in which he live . but there be and however and a gentle scene in the middle of the film while pixote and his friend be at the beach and missing ( and wish ) one of his friend from the reformatory be there . i think it be a poetic and melancholy scene in the middle of all these horrible event . the boy be obviously long not only for their friend and but for a good life . director hector babenco pixote be a brave and depressing film that doesn not shy away from show the harsh reality many people include myself tend to ignore or misunderstand . this film will probably open your eye and make you a good and compassionate person .