🔗 Share this article Baby Review: A Sharp Depiction of LGBTQ+ Brazilian Survivors Lost in the Established Order Evoking the city's relentless energy and pulsating life 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 (João Pedro Mariano) faces a critical turning point; deserted by his parents, the innocent young man discovers refuge in the arms of others. On an night on the town with his boisterous group of gay and non-binary friends, Wellington encounters Ronaldo (Ricardo Teodoro), a strapping, magnetic hustler more than twice his age. Bathed in the pulsating light of a adult movie theater, their first meeting is sensuous and erotic, with an hint of risk. Ronaldo quickly introduces Wellington to the underground scene of the sex trade and selling drugs. A Study of Understanding Instead of Sensationalism The film illustrates Wellington’s new life of crime with compassionate understanding as opposed to as a exploitative warning story. Now using the alias Baby, he approaches his transactional encounters with swaggering confidence and poignant gullibility. To his patrons, Wellington provides not just his youth and his body, but also instances of tenderness. In the electrifying chaos of São Paulo, teeming with busy lanes and brightly painted facades, there’s a persistent isolation, as adrift individuals hold fast to one another for momentary bliss. "The city might be fraught with peril, yet they are where they can forge familial bonds, too." A Complicated Relationship of Love and Control Ronaldo is both a lover and a guardian-like mentor to Wellington, but their relationship is derailed by envy and financial instability. Threats from shady figures in the criminal underworld pale in comparison to the fear of state surveillance and imprisonment, represented by the constant sight of police officers on patrol. Baby is particularly impactful as a keen observation of the forgotten souls who have fallen through the cracks the system. The film functions as a moving look into survival, chosen family, and the pursuit of identity within a demanding urban landscape.