Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the Established Order
Capturing the urban restlessness and vibrancy of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's gripping drama centres on those who live on the fringes of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his boisterous group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler over double his age. Bathed in the pulsating light of a adult movie theater, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the shadowy world of sex work and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy instead of as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, teeming with bustling alleyways and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape can be filled with danger, yet they are the place where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complex Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by envy and financial instability. Threats from dubious individuals in the shadow economy are overshadowed by the anxiety about institutional observation and incarceration, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol.
Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the forgotten souls who have been failed by the social system. The film ultimately serves as a heartfelt examination into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the pursuit of self within a demanding urban landscape.
