“A tour-de-force from Brazil”
–The Wall Street Journal

“Rough, unblinking”
–Roger Ebert

Fernando Ramos da Silva gives an unforgettable performance as a 10-year-old runaway living on the streets of São Paulo, where he is collected in a police round-up and placed in a violent detention center. From then on his life and the lives of his friends are marked with tragic and senseless violence as they commit crimes to survive on the streets. A masterpiece of social realism.