Tire dié bares a striking visual resemblance to Walker Evans’ photographs of sharecroppers. You could also say that this documentary of about children begging travelers to “Tire dié” or “throw a dime” is comparable to Slumdog Millionaire, but that would be a stretch. The children of this Latin American slum have no fairy tale hope of escape.
Sometimes overly constructed and framed in a manner that evokes as much charm as it does pity, the visual world of Tire dié is never so picturesque that it loses its punch. Like the early work of Ozu, in particular Tokyo no yado, there exists a duality between the cheerful world of children and the worrisome world of adults. The margin between is narrow and both parites exist in the same depressed environment. When Tire dié ends on the blank expression of a very young, wide-eyed youth, still too young to beg, and the image holds there for what feels like minutes, the pre-written future and the grim reality of these children is spelled out in bold, if not sad terms.
Accept Your Curse 