Original poster artwork · Great Cinema Master List
Spoiler-free premise
A group of juvenile delinquents live a violent and crime-filled life in the festering slums of Mexico City.
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Teenage Jaibo returns to a Mexico City slum and reasserts control over a group of boys, including conflicted Pedro. Theft, revenge, hunger, unstable homes, and the limits of reform shape their lives beyond adult protection.
Why it belongs
Luis Buñuel marries neorealist streets with cruel dream imagery, refusing both sentimental poverty and comfortable distance from abandoned children.
Read expanded why it belongsThe fuller editorial case+
Roberto Cobo and Alfonso Mejía prevent Jaibo and Pedro from becoming sociological types. Dusty lots, crowded rooms, construction sites, food, animals, offscreen city noise, and a slow-motion dream give deprivation material and psychic forms.