Pixote (1980)
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Pixote Movie Review
Pixote is a 1980 Brazilian crime drama film directed by Hector Babenco and starring Fernando Ramos da Silva. It’s one of the best Brazilian movies of all time.
10-year-old Pixote endures torture, degradation and corruption at a local youth detention center where two of its members are murdered by policemen who frame Lilica, a 17-year-old trans hustler. Pixote helps Lilica and three other boys escape and they start to make their living by a life of crime which only escalates to more violence and death. This movie is an essential viewing as it offers a hard-hitting, but necessary look into the harsh living conditions of children on the streets of Sao Paolo.
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The first half of Pixote functioned pretty much as a Dickensian tale of poverty, child neglect and injustice. It’s a timeless story that felt urgent because it seemed so real in how the characters were depicted and how believable their situations were. The second half sees the gang escape and this is where the film becomes different as it shifts from more of a drama to a crime movie that was graphic in its violent depictions and very difficult to sit through.
I personally preferred the first half as this is where the character interactions were at their strongest. This was also the section where the storytelling was most confident as in the second half the structure and pacing were a bit looser. The most violent and/or sexual scenes were depicted in the most graphic manner possible, which did make for an overly gruesome, though very realistic viewing experience.
The main reason why Pixote works so well lies in its masterful characterization. This neorealist crime drama would have been much worse had it dwelled on the characters’ misery, but the film never felt exploitative like that. Quite the opposite was the case here as every single character is wonderfully developed and given a lot of agency for themselves, which made us care for them.
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The titular protagonist is the most tragic character in this story. Pixote is so young at ten years old that he had to mature earlier in order to survive in the harsh conditions that he lives in. This all led to that powerful sequence where he committed murder and he didn’t realize it instantly, but had a delayed emotional reaction. Fernando Ramos da Silva, the actor who played him, ended up being shot by the police at just 19 years of age, which gave an extra level of tragic importance to this film.
Chico, Dito and other male characters are all very well developed themselves and their team dynamic was genuinely endearing at times and quite believable. But Sueli and Lilica stole the movie as these two unforgettable cinematic creations, who both felt tragic without being hopeless as they were given a lot of proactive agency.
Sueli is this prostitute who had to abort her baby on her own. She becomes something of a mother figure to the kids, and her final moment with Pixote, though highly uncomfortable, was truly heartbreaking. As for Lilica, she is a trans girl, which in and of itself was daring for a film released in the early eighties. She was entirely believable, beautifully acted and wonderfully developed. Lilica was the best fleshed out character of the bunch and the most memorable one.
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Hector Babenco directed this picture with a lot of style and confidence. The editing and pacing are strong, the score is pretty good, and the cinematography is mesmerizing and highly cinematic. There were so many shots and takes here that were intricately composed and instantly iconic. The attention to detail in the dialogue and character interactions was incredible while the tone was more urgent and tragic than miserable and dreary. The overwhelming violence and graphical nature to the film aside, it is a masterpiece of the genre.
Superbly shot, phenomenally directed and wonderfully performed by its talented cast, Pixote is an underappreciated film that deserves to be recognized as a masterpiece of Brazilian cinema that it really is. This is a hard-hitting, but important crime drama about the neglected youth of this country that doesn’t dwell on their suffering, but actually takes the time to properly flesh out each and every one of them, so that they felt like genuine real-life human beings. Pixote is above all else a very memorable movie that sticks with you long after seeing it, and for that alone it deserves bigger admiration.
My Rating – 4.5
This is the 24th film in my American Cinema Marathon where I will watch one film from each American country every day. Next up is 🇬🇹.
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