Baby Review: An Astute Portrait of Queer Brazilian Hustlers Adrift in the Established Order
Evoking the urban restlessness and vibrancy of São Paulo, Marcelo Caetano’s unflinching drama centres on those who exist on the margins of an perpetually shifting metropolis. Recently released from juvenile prison, 18-year-old Wellington (the actor João Pedro Mariano) finds himself at a crossroads; abandoned by his parents, the innocent young man seeks comfort in the arms of others.
On an late-night excursion with his lively group of queer and non-binary friends, Wellington meets Ronaldo (actor Ricardo Teodoro), a muscular, charming hustler over double his age. Bathed in the flickering glow of a XXX cinema, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an tinge of peril. Ronaldo promptly ushers Wellington to the clandestine realm of prostitution and narcotics trafficking.
A Study of Empathy Instead of Sensationalism
The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding rather than as a exploitative warning story. Now adopting the moniker Baby, he engages in his paid liaisons with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also fleeting acts of kindness.
In the hectic energy of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and colourful shopfronts, there’s a deep-seated solitude, as adrift individuals grasp at one another for momentary bliss.
"The city are riddled with risk, yet they are where they can find their own family, too."
A Complicated Relationship of Affection and Power
Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their connection is thrown off course by possessiveness and economic precarity. Dangers posed by shady figures in the shadow economy pale in comparison to the dread of institutional observation and jail time, epitomized by the constant sight of police officers making their rounds.
Baby is especially potent as a keen observation of the forgotten souls who have been failed by the social system. The film stands as a heartfelt exploration into making ends meet, non-biological kinship, and the pursuit of identity within a harsh urban landscape.
