Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the System
Channelling the urban restlessness and vibrancy of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's bracing drama zooms in on those who exist on the margins of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his rowdy group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler significantly older than his age. Shrouded in the flickering glow of a adult movie theater, their first meeting is physical and passionate, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of sex work and narcotics trafficking.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with tender empathy instead of as a melodramatic morality play. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and touching naivety. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, overflowing with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as rootless people grasp at one another for temporary happiness.
"The urban landscape might be fraught with peril, yet they are the place where they can discover chosen kin, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by possessiveness and financial instability. Dangers posed by shady figures in the criminal underworld are overshadowed by the dread of state surveillance and imprisonment, epitomized by the constant sight of police officers on patrol.
Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the forgotten souls who have slipped through the gaps the system. The film functions as a moving exploration into making ends meet, found community, and the pursuit of purpose within a demanding urban landscape.
