The Film Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the Established Order
Capturing the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's bracing drama zooms in on those who live on the fringes of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his boisterous group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a hunky, charismatic hustler more than twice his age. Illuminated by the pulsating light of a XXX cinema, their initial encounter is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of prostitution and drug dealing.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Exploitation
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with bustling alleyways and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for temporary happiness.
"The city can be riddled with risk, yet they are the place where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by envy and financial instability. Dangers posed by nefarious characters in the shadow economy pale in comparison to the anxiety about institutional observation and incarceration, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the system. The film stands as a heartfelt exploration into resilience, chosen family, and the quest for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
