Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the System
Capturing the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo 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 (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; left behind by his parents, the innocent young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his lively group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Shrouded in the pulsating light of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of the sex trade and drug dealing.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, filled with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals cling on to one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape might be filled with danger, 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 envy and economic precarity. Threats from nefarious characters in the criminal underworld pale in comparison to the fear of government monitoring and jail time, represented by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol.
Baby is particularly impactful as a perceptive study of the disenfranchised individuals who have been failed by the established structure. The film ultimately serves as a moving examination into making ends meet, chosen family, and the search for purpose within a harsh urban landscape.
