The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the Established Order
Evoking the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s bracing drama zooms in on those who exist on the margins of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his lively group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler significantly older than his age. Illuminated by the flickering glow of a XXX cinema, their initial encounter is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of sex work and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Empathy Instead of Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding as opposed to as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as unmoored souls grasp at one another for temporary happiness.
"The city can be riddled with risk, yet they are where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by envy and economic precarity. Threats from shady figures in the shadow economy seem minor next to the dread of institutional observation and imprisonment, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers in the area.
Baby is most powerful as a keen observation of the lost people who have been failed by the system. The film ultimately serves as a poignant look into resilience, chosen family, and the quest for purpose within a unforgiving urban landscape.
