Toto And His Sisters

Toto and his elder sisters come from a Roma family of junkies and drug dealers. Their troubled mother is again in prison, and little Toto is again waiting for her return. A tender, subtle observation of childhood, family relations and love. Non-sentimental and beautifully depicted documentary.

The camera is present when the fatherless Roma children visit their mother in prison. She’s been sentenced for selling drugs. It’s also present when two uncles, who have to look after Toto (10) and his sisters Andreea (14) and Ana (17), shoot heroin in their cramped apartment in Bucharest. And when Ana breaks her promise and starts using again.

The documentary immerses us (without comment) in the intense life of Andreea in particular. Like a surrogate mother, she tries to keep Ana and Toto on the rails. Sometimes she expresses her feelings in front of the camera in a video diary.

Hope comes from Romanian institutions: a training course that uses tolerance to help the semi-illiterate Andreea and completely illiterate Toto focus on the lessons; an orphanage that offers a safer haven than the filthy drug den at home; and above all a hip-hop dance group that taps hidden talents in Toto.