The Film Baby Review: An Astute Depiction of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Evoking the city's relentless energy and dynamic spirit of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s bracing drama focuses on those who exist on the margins of an constantly evolving metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the impressionable young man discovers refuge in the arms of others.
On an evening out with his lively group of LGBTQ+ and gender non-conforming friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler significantly older than 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 clandestine realm of prostitution and selling drugs.
A Portrait of Empathy Rather Than Exploitation
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding as opposed to as a sensationalist cautionary tale. Now using the alias Baby, he enters his commercial trysts with swaggering confidence and endearing innocence. To his customers, Wellington offers more than his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, filled with crowded backstreets and colourful shopfronts, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for momentary bliss.
"The urban landscape can be filled with danger, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too."
A Complex Dynamic of Love and Control
Ronaldo is simultaneously a partner and a sheltering paternal presence to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by jealousy and economic precarity. Dangers posed by nefarious characters in the criminal underworld seem minor next to the dread of government monitoring and incarceration, represented by the hovering figures of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as an astute portrait of the disenfranchised individuals who have slipped through the gaps the established structure. The film functions as a poignant look into making ends meet, chosen family, and the pursuit of self within a harsh urban landscape.
