The Film Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the Established Order
Channelling the city's relentless energy and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama zooms in on those who inhabit the outskirts of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his lively group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler significantly older than his age. Illuminated by the pulsating light of a XXX cinema, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the shadowy world of prostitution and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Empathy Instead of Exploitation
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding instead of as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now using the alias Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and touching naivety. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as unmoored souls grasp at one another for momentary bliss.
"The streets might be riddled with risk, yet they are where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by jealousy and economic precarity. Intimidation from nefarious characters in the shadow economy seem minor next to the fear of government monitoring and incarceration, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers in the area.
Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the established structure. The film functions as a moving look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the search for identity within a unforgiving urban landscape.
