The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Portrait of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the System
Evoking the city's relentless energy and vibrancy of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's bracing drama zooms in on those who inhabit the outskirts of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the wide-eyed young man discovers refuge 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 muscular, charming hustler over double his age. Bathed in the wavering neon of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of sex work and selling drugs.
A Portrait of Understanding Rather Than Sensationalism
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding instead of as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with cocky bravado and poignant gullibility. To his clients, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, teeming with crowded backstreets and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for temporary happiness.
"The city are riddled with risk, yet they are where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their bond is sabotaged by envy and economic precarity. Threats from shady figures in the underworld seem minor next to the anxiety about government monitoring and imprisonment, epitomized by the constant sight of police officers on patrol.
Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the lost people who have fallen through the cracks the system. The film ultimately serves as a poignant exploration into survival, chosen family, and the search for self within a harsh urban landscape.
