Arquivo

Oliver, age 11, is thrown out of the house by an alcoholic step-father. His mother, helpless, looks on without taking sides, in fear of being beaten. To the boy, there is little else he can do other than to live in the streets where he meets up with other children in similar circumstances. He joins a small gang to provide for food and other items necessary to his survival: with glue to make him forget and a refuge under the bridge to be able to sleep. In a videogame shop, Oliver meets Chino, age 17 and mentally ill. He becomes his best friend, but belongs to a rival gang struggling to gain control over distribution of cocaine in the area. Through his friend, Oliver is introduced into the dangerous world of hold-ups and drug traffic, a business where all would be the winners, including corrupt policemen. Oliver?s thoughts lead the spectators through this world of violence and abandonment. While he faces this hard reality, the boy describes his experience and the lessons gleaned through hunger and poverty, and tells of his fears and hopes. All of these thoughts are addressed to his mother who will never hear them. The prize-winning film of the Glauber Rocha award for Foreign Press at the Havanna Festival in 1999.