The Film Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the System
Evoking the metropolitan unease and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, director Marcelo Caetano's unflinching drama focuses on those who inhabit the outskirts of an ever-changing metropolis. Fresh out of juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; abandoned by his parents, the impressionable young man finds solace in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his lively group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a XXX cinema, their first meeting is intimate and charged, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo swiftly initiates Wellington to the shadowy world of sex work and selling drugs.
A Study of Empathy Rather Than Sensationalism
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy as opposed to as a exploitative warning story. Now going by the name of Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, overflowing with bustling alleyways and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as unmoored souls hold fast to one another for momentary bliss.
"The city are filled with danger, yet they are the place where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by envy and financial instability. Dangers posed by nefarious characters in the underworld seem minor next to the dread of government monitoring and incarceration, represented by the hovering figures 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 look into resilience, non-biological kinship, and the pursuit of self within a demanding urban landscape.
