I first saw Pixote over 20 years ago, and the thing that I always think about the movie is how, when I was first watching it, my friend who was also watching it nudged me and whispered "His face...look at his face", referring to Fernando Ramos De Silva. "His face is growing harder, and older, and angry...how do you ACT that?" It's true: watch the movie and you'll notice that the face of Pixote becomes visibly more and more changed over time due to the life that he lives. The see-saw of the "adult" means of which he's forced by circumstance to live his life and the reality of being a boy, a little boy alone, looking not only to survive but to gain at least a small semblance of childhood that is pretty much a lost cause. I think the most heart-rending scene is when he nurses at the breast of the prostitute - not for sex, but because of his need to have a mother, to be only a baby nursing at his mother's breast. You see that, and you also see that the prostitute recognizes his suckling for what it is, and for a moment she accepts this, and encourages this, until she remembers who she is, and that she is not about to undertake raising a child. She then stops his nursing and sends him away.
And that's just one moment out of so many in this movie. This is a film that, without being in the least exploitive, nonetheless throws doors open wide to let the viewer see exactly what exists on the streets of Brazil (reminding us that if it exists there, the chances are pretty good that the same sort of thing exists elsewhere). It doesn't show us anything but the truth. There's no need for embellishment - the actuality is sobering enough. It's a hard movie to watch. I haven't watched it since I've had children of my own - truthfully, I've been kind of afraid to. I will again, though. This movie is too, too good to see only once, even if once is all you think that you can stand.
And that's just one moment out of so many in this movie. This is a film that, without being in the least exploitive, nonetheless throws doors open wide to let the viewer see exactly what exists on the streets of Brazil (reminding us that if it exists there, the chances are pretty good that the same sort of thing exists elsewhere). It doesn't show us anything but the truth. There's no need for embellishment - the actuality is sobering enough. It's a hard movie to watch. I haven't watched it since I've had children of my own - truthfully, I've been kind of afraid to. I will again, though. This movie is too, too good to see only once, even if once is all you think that you can stand.