The screenplay was written by Babenco and Jorge Durán, based on the book A Infância dos Mortos (The Childhood of the Dead Ones) by José Louzeiro.

The film features Fernando Ramos da Silva (who was killed at the age of 19 by Brazilian police in São Paulo) as Pixote and Marília Pêra as Sueli.

The prison is a hellish school where Pixote uses glue sniffing as a means of emotional escape from the constant threats of abuse and rape.

When a boy dies of physical abuse by the police, the officials frame (and ultimately kill) another child, the unnamed lover of the trans woman known as Lilica, for the murder.

And the eyes of Fernando Ramos da Silva, his doomed young actor, regard us from the screen not in hurt, not in accusation, not in regret - but simply in acceptance of a desolate daily reality.

"[4] The New York Times film critic, Vincent Canby, liked the neo-realist acting and direction of the drama, and wrote, "[Pixote], the third feature film by the Argentine-born Brazilian director Hector Babenco, is a finely made, uncompromisingly grim movie about the street boys of São Paulo, in particular about Pixote - which, according to the program, translates roughly as Peewee...The performances are almost too good to be true, but Mr. Da Silva and Miss Pera are splendid.

"[5] Filmmakers Spike Lee, Mira Nair, Harmony Korine, Martin Scorsese, and the Safdie brothers have cited it as being among their favorite films.

[6] Although it was accepted as the Brazilian submission for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film it was later disqualified since it was test marketed in Brazil before the allowable date.