Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the Established Order
Channelling the city's relentless energy and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's gripping drama focuses on those who live on the fringes of an ever-changing metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; left behind by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace 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 strapping, magnetic hustler over double his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of sex work and selling drugs.
A Portrait of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding instead of as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with bustling alleyways and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as rootless people cling on to one another for temporary happiness.
"The streets can be riddled with risk, yet they are also the space where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and monetary insecurity. Intimidation from shady figures in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the fear of state surveillance and imprisonment, represented by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the forgotten souls who have slipped through the gaps the social system. The film functions as a poignant exploration into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the search for self within a harsh urban landscape.
