The Film Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of Queer Brazilian Survivors Lost in the System
Evoking the city's relentless energy and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, filmmaker Caetano's bracing 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) finds himself at a crossroads; deserted by his parents, the innocent young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his boisterous group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a XXX cinema, their initial encounter is intimate and charged, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the underground scene of prostitution and selling drugs.
A Study of Understanding Rather Than Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy rather than as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now going by the name of Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with cocky bravado and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also moments of care.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, overflowing with bustling alleyways and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as rootless people grasp at one another for temporary happiness.
"The urban landscape can be filled with danger, yet they are where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Dynamic of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is at once a romantic interest and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by jealousy and economic precarity. Dangers posed by shady figures in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of government monitoring and incarceration, represented by the looming presence of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a perceptive study of the lost people who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film functions as a heartfelt look into survival, non-biological kinship, and the quest for identity within a harsh urban landscape.
