Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Adrift in the System
Evoking the urban restlessness and pulsating life of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's gripping drama zooms in on those who live on the fringes of an constantly evolving metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; left behind by his parents, the impressionable young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his boisterous group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler more than twice his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their first meeting is physical and passionate, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of the sex trade and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism
Caetano depicts Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a melodramatic morality play. Now going by the name of Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and touching naivety. To his patrons, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, overflowing with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for fleeting joy.
"The city can be riddled with risk, yet they are also the space where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and financial instability. Intimidation from dubious individuals in the underworld are overshadowed by the anxiety about state surveillance and imprisonment, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the lost people who have been failed by the established structure. The film stands as a moving examination into survival, found community, and the search for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
