Little Criminals is Coming an age story that will keep you glued to the screen. The main character in it is the an eleven year Des -- a boy living a really tough life involving himself in various crimes and mischiefs since he was 6. At 11 he ha has his own band and cruises the town looking for houses to robe , people to mug -- or the way they see it to have fun their own way.

Being underage ( under 12 anyway ) -- he knows that if caught the cops won`t be able to do anything , but call his mother to pick him up. Knowing that his age makes him untouchable he takes full advantage of it. During a fight school grounds impressed by the fighting skills of Cory -- Des tries to congratulate him only to get punched by the angry bot. He handles the situation and soon the boys become best buddies .

Nothing lasts forever and Des is send to a assessment centre for troubled youths . But he doesn`t remain there for long…

The acting was first class -- and once again we have a debut of a young actors Brendan Fletcher -- which outperforms many performances of his the older and more experienced colleagues. The movie also had the most wild , suitable and cool soundtrack -- mostly alternative lineup ( think Portishead,Headstones and Radiohead ).

An unusual coming of Age story ” Little Criminals” is a Canadian movie. It reminded me of another great story for a troubled youth coming from the same country- Jet Boy. The movie director, Stephen Surjik made sure that we get as realistic picture as possible -- having the majority of scenes shoot by a hand held camera and making a mixture of documentary style interviews and action/drama. Combined with the original plot we got an compelling, moving , disturbing and yes -- a provoking movie that I highly recommend .

“I was interviewing some kids in Winnipeg while researching my play Seesaw, when a teacher told me that one of the more hyper 11 year olds I met had been busted breaking into a house with another 11 year old and a four year old. When the police asked him what he was doing, he replied, “babysitting.”

I became curious about small kids and crime, and asked the CBC’s Jim Burt to commission me to see if there was a story in this. My first phone call was to the Vancouver Police, who told me that there were at least 4 gangs in the city being run by kids under 12. As I peeled the layers, it became obvious that it wasn’t just a story about little criminals, it was about kids falling through the cracks. If Des (played to perfection by Brendan Fletcher) is a monster, he’s our monster — society, poverty and the system created him.”( quote source)