Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of Queer Brazilian Survivors Lost in the System
Capturing the urban restlessness and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama focuses on those who inhabit the outskirts of an constantly evolving metropolis. Newly freed from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the wide-eyed young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an night on the town with his rowdy group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington crosses paths with Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Shrouded in the wavering neon of a adult movie theater, their introductory rendezvous is sensuous and erotic, with an edge of danger. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the shadowy world of the sex trade and drug dealing.
A Portrait of Understanding Rather Than Sensationalism
The director portrays Wellington’s new life of crime with gentle sympathy rather than as a melodramatic morality play. Now going by the name of Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with brash fearlessness and endearing innocence. To his clients, Wellington lends not only his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness.
In the feverish excitement of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and vibrant storefronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as unmoored souls grasp at one another for fleeting joy.
"The urban landscape are riddled with risk, yet they are also the space where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control
Ronaldo is both a lover and a protective father figure to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and economic precarity. Dangers posed by dubious individuals in the criminal underworld pale in comparison to the dread of state surveillance and jail time, epitomized by the constant sight of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is most powerful as a perceptive study of the disenfranchised individuals who have slipped through the gaps the social system. The film functions as a moving examination into survival, found community, and the search for self within a unforgiving urban landscape.
