Word: babenco
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1981-1981
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Director Hector Babenco succeeds in maintaining a posture of moral ambivalence throughout Pixote. If Babenco sheds no tears for Pixote's lost innocence, neither does he condemn the little criminal for his brutal atrocities. Though occasionally frustrating, this objectivity gives the film enormous credibility. Babenco reveals the truth; in this story, the truth is enough...
Pixote is one of the most powerful films ever made about poverty and oppression in Latin America. Its lack of overt moral commentary is more than compensated for by its stark, at times shocking, realism. Even the most graphic American films seem tame by comparison. Babenco uses scenes of crude abortion and vicious sodomy to capture the misery of an impoverished and overpopulated Third World metropolis. Filth, noise, chaos, this is Pixote's world: grim walls, dim light, inane pop music blaring in the background...
...Babenco's criticism of the Brazilian regime is potent. Those in positions of authority in Pixote from warden to minister, are interested only in covering up their own sins, never in serving the government. Although Pixote is adapted from a book, under Babenco's direction the film seems so realistic that it appears to have no props and no actors...