Puisque nous sommes nés

In this cross between feature and documentary (rather similar to Entre les murs) we follow two very poor kids: Cocada (13) who sleeps in an old truck after his father was murdered and Nego (14) who lives in a slum district with his (half-) brothers and sisters.
They hang around a large filling station on a major road and earn a little extra with odd jobs. They hustle and profit from the goodness or carelessness of those passing. Both have dreams about a world elsewhere, dreams that may one day come true thanks to a good-hearted trucker and a religious fanatic. The two boys philosophise about their future at the filling station, which for both of them is a symbol for ‘elsewhere’.
Jean-Pierre Duret and Andréa Santana previously made Dreaming of São Paulo, a film that was also about dreams. This time it’s not about adults, but about the dreams of two children on the brink of puberty and adolescence. The directors got as close as they could to the children. In this way, they tell a universal story with characters who stay close, and without them judging. That is left to the viewer.

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