International Cinema Essay Research Paper AN ANALYSIS

International Cinema Essay, Research Paper

AN ANALYSIS OF HECTOR BABENCO S FILM, PIXOTE

This film takes place in Brazil during the early eighties. At first appearance, Brazil seems to be a modern day paradise. Large and exotic beaches line the city where tourists flock all year round. Even the people, at first glance appear to be very cultural and rich in heritage. However, this only part of the picture. What you don t immediately see is the overwhelming number of delinquent children who have no home. There are approximately twenty-eight million children in Brazil and roughly three million of them are homeless. Also, half of them are under the age of twenty-one. Children under the age of twenty-one commit the majority of all crimes in Brazil. This is because here, the laws protect the children. Until they reach eighteen years of age, they cannot be convicted of a crime. In the film Pixote, by Hector Babenco, this issue is addressed. The everyday struggles of the children on the street portray a dark counter-culture o the beautiful scenery that surrounds them. The film depicts the lives of numerous adolescents who take part in drugs, rape, theft, murder and prostitution. Because of their age they seemingly go un-punished. I believe the director used the main character, Pixote as a metaphor for the current state of Brazil. Through this character we see that the kids do survive despite their harsh surroundings and learn at a very young age how to survive at any cost. Children are constantly picked off the streets and thrown in to reform schools. However, these reform schools do little to help the children improve their standing. In fact, most of the children end up taking part in drugs; violence and pick up even more deceitful skills to use to help them survive in the world outside the reform school walls. I believe this expresses the main theme of the movie. I think Babenco, portrayed the homeless children of Brazil to show the differences between appearance and reality that were taking place in society. He wanted to show that while Brazil looked beautiful and welcoming on the outside the interior was rotting away because of drugs, crime and depravity.

The film s beginning scenes are filled with examples of a false appearance with an underlying negative reality. The opening shot of the film shows a bunch of young kids almost mesmerized by the television. They are watching violent scenes from a police drama show. The next shot reveals numerous children in a police precinct. In the near background is a mother trying to tell an officer that her son is missing. However, the police officer is more concerned with talking on the phone. A little later a police truck arrives filled with even more young children of varied ages. It is at this point that one of the children states that the police are rounding up children to find someone to pin the blame on for the murder of an old man. The next scene shows an officer taking a roll call of all the children who have just stepped out of the van. Most of them claim that they have no parents or that they only have one parent and the other ran away and so on. So, it is established that all of these children come from broken homes, if they have any homes at all. Another example of false appearance has just taken place. The image of the desperate mother trying to tell the police officer that her son is missing is an attempt to show that there are concerned parents in this society. By focusing on the women s face it is supposed to show that there is hope for these children because someone is looking for them, to help them. This is not the real situation. However, the truth is displayed during the roll call when the children all state that they are either from broken homes, don t have any homes or don t even know if there parents are alive or not. Also, a less evident example of this same theme is the television. Normally, showing children transfixed watching the television is supposed to symbolize a form of temporary escapism. In this society, their only form of temporary escape, the television, is filled with images that plague their daily lives, violence.

This film can really be looked at in two parts. The first part takes place in the juvenile reform halls where these children are placed after being picked up by the police. The second part shows what happens to these kids outside of the reform school walls. Keep in mind that these children are supposed to be receiving guidance and support in order to help rehabilitate themselves before they re-enter society. This is not the case. The reform halls are very much like prisons. There is blackmail and intimidation from the older kids and the bored and extremely violent jail guards abuse everyone. In one scene Pixote is asked by some of the older kids to have his parents smuggle in Marijuana when they come to visit. He says that his parents won t come and one of Pixote s friends claims that he can have drugs smuggled in by his mom. The kid then asks what he will receive in return for the drugs. The older children simply reply that they will make sure that he will not be raped, mugged or killed by them or the other senior children. In another scene a child has just been gang raped and there are no suspects. When the guards find the body, they simply toss him in the infirmary and that is the end of it. The police would also work hand in hand with the reform schools. When they needed