Ramin Bahrani's Chop Shop, about a 12-year-old orphan working and living in the auto shops of the "Iron Triangle," is a stark contrast to the Dickensonian tales we have come to associate with orphans. It does not solicit pity from the audience. In fact, it does not solicit anything. It is direct and candid filmmaking letting us into the world of a boy, a world we might expect to see somewhere else, but not in New York.

Ale ( short for Alejandro) is a 12-year-old who thinks he is a man. Mostly because he has to. He lives in a room over a garage with his sister Isamar. The guys who run the shops throw him bones by letting him help out, which he uses as an opportunity to learn the trade and save up money to buy a vendor he hopes to run with his teenage sister. He also sells bootleg DVDs and candy bars on the subway, where he frankly tells the passengers that he is not raising money for school basketball uniforms. "In fact I don't even go to school," he informs them. When Ale is not working he is eating microwave popcorn for dinner, catching a game at Shea across the street or trying to protect and provide for his older sister, who has turned to turning tricks for extra cash.

Bahrani, the writer and director, uses a minimalism that engineers a uniquely salient picture. The decision to omit the past, the story of how Ale got to this point, breaks from the formulaic and lets the characters, in their here-and-now, resonate. The use of Alejandro Polanco and Isamar Gonzalez to play the lead roles is also risky but effective. Both are unprofessional actors and it shows, but they are consumed by their characters regardless, and make us care about who we are watching. They are able to garner compassion from the audience, but never pity.

The "Iron Triangle," the place that so fascinated Bahrani he had to set his next film there, is a character in itself. It provides the disparity of the hellish junkyards under the shadows of Shea Stadium and the U.S. Open. Yet, unbelievably, bitterness does not seep into what could have easily turned into a movie for the class warriors. Instead, this contrast, as a prevalent theme throughout the film, realistically and optimistically lets labor and scuffle live with faith and promise. Ale and Isamar never fall to self-pity and are able, to a certain extent, enjoy life and each other when a hard day's work is over.

Winner of the Acura Someone to Watch Award at this year's Film Independent Spirit Awards, Ramin Bahrami conveys consummate spirit in just about every frame of Chop Shop. He does have the characters, the backdrop or even the words enforce a message or opinion on us. That is not to say you won't leave the theater thoughtful and impressed, not only by the great story you just learned and the poignant filmmaking, but impressed with questions and possibilities.

by Sanela Djokovic