The Film Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the System
Channelling the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's unflinching drama centres on those who exist on the margins of an ever-changing metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler significantly older than his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a neon-lit porn cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of prostitution and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy instead of as a exploitative warning story. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with brash fearlessness and poignant gullibility. To his customers, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and brightly painted facades, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as unmoored souls hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The city can be riddled with risk, yet they are also the space where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by envy and economic precarity. Intimidation from shady figures in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the fear of government monitoring and incarceration, symbolized by the looming presence of police officers on patrol.
Baby is particularly impactful as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film functions as a heartfelt examination into survival, found community, and the pursuit of identity within a demanding urban landscape.
