The Film Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the Established Order
Evoking the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama focuses on those who live on the fringes of an ever-changing 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 finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the pulsating light of a adult movie theater, their first meeting is physical and passionate, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and narcotics trafficking.
A Portrait of Empathy Instead of Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy instead of as a melodramatic morality play. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and touching naivety. To his customers, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, teeming with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as unmoored souls hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The streets are riddled with risk, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and economic precarity. Dangers posed by shady figures in the underworld seem minor next to the anxiety about government monitoring and imprisonment, represented by the constant sight of police officers on patrol.
Baby is most powerful as a keen observation of the forgotten souls who have fallen through the cracks the established structure. The film functions as a heartfelt exploration into survival, non-biological kinship, and the quest for self within a demanding urban landscape.
