Pixote is a powerful portrait of innocence and corruption, a mixture of social realism and mythic elements. Its vivid depiction of abandoned children in Brazil resonates with an even more tragic situation that exists today. Its outlaw-hero is a ten-year-old boy from the slums of São Paulo who is loose in the Rio underworld, on the lam from the savagery of police and their "reform" schools. Preying off other people, these homeless youths are by turns exploited and taken in by older thieves, prostitutes, and pimps (here, mostly played by nonprofessional actors, as is Pixote himself). "Babenco portrays the struggle for survival in its harshest terms, while evoking moments of exquisite tenderness, selfless love, honor, loyalty, and moral strength. Most astounding is his powerful sense of the absurd. He is able to draw attention to the ridiculous and the mad in the most tragic of circumstances." (George Csicsery, Film Quarterly)