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, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama centres on those who inhabit the outskirts of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) stands at a pivotal juncture; left behind by his parents, the impressionable young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his boisterous group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler significantly older than his age. Bathed in the pulsating light of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of the sex trade and narcotics trafficking.
A Study of Empathy Instead of Exploitation
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now going by the name of Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his patrons, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as unmoored souls cling on to one another for temporary happiness.
"The urban landscape are fraught with peril, yet they are also the space 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 connection is thrown off course by jealousy and monetary insecurity. Threats from nefarious characters in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of government monitoring and incarceration, symbolized by the looming presence of police officers in the area.
Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the forgotten souls who have been failed by the system. The film stands as a poignant examination into survival, chosen family, and the quest for identity within a unforgiving urban landscape.
