Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the System
Capturing the metropolitan unease and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's gripping drama centres on those who exist on the margins of an ever-changing metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his rowdy group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler significantly older than his age. Illuminated by the flickering glow of a neon-lit porn cinema, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the underground scene of the sex trade and narcotics trafficking.
A Study of Understanding Instead of Exploitation
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 endearing innocence. To his patrons, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, filled with bustling alleyways and colourful shopfronts, there’s a gnawing loneliness, as adrift individuals grasp at 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 Complex Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by envy and monetary insecurity. Dangers posed by nefarious characters in the shadow economy are overshadowed by the fear of state surveillance and incarceration, symbolized by the hovering figures of police officers on patrol.
Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have fallen through the cracks the social system. The film functions as a poignant look into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the search for identity within a unforgiving urban landscape.
