Sweet Angel Baby

Sweet Angel Baby tells a timeless story of small town gossip, ostracization and slut shaming. It updates this classic tale with the existence of social media, presence of homosexuality and its specific setting in a small Maritimes community.

Eliza is the community good girl. She’s close to everyone and works hard to raise funds to save the local Catholic church. But online, Eliza posts proactive photos under the name lil_wildling to her 350k strong group of followers. While the women around town ask Eliza why she doesn’t have a man, Eliza is in an ill-defined relationship with Toni. This doesn’t stop her from also engaging in an affair with Shawn, one of the richest men in the community. But Shawn finds out about Eliza’s internet alter-ego. He promises he won’t tell anyone but, well…

Sweet Angel Baby crafts a believable small town community. There’s a strong web of relationships and interactions between its citizens. Sharing runs rampant, but so does gossip. It takes no time at all for Eliza’s secret to get out. And really, her secret isn’t that bad. But due to the small town nature, it becomes the biggest scandal in an age. If Eliza lived in a big city, her posting nudes on the internet or having a gay relationship wouldn’t really be notable. But due to the film’s setting, this revelation upsets everything for Eliza.

But what a beautiful small community it is. Sweet Angel Baby shows off the Maritimes at its most stunning. This is an elements that helps the film sing. Eliza’s lil_wildling photos are genuinely beautiful. Her gimmick of utilizing the nature around her as well as objects from her community such as homemade bread and hunting trophies make for some arresting shots. Eliza’s red hair and pale skin against a backdrop of moss while she smears her titties in homemade jam does make for a photo that I can see why she got a few hundred thousand followers. I do also mourn the waste of some good homemade jam, though.

The film delves into Eliza’s complex relationship to sexuality and sexualizing herself. But perhaps not far enough. She’s uncertain herself about why she does this until a tearful confession to Toni in the third act. This confession is followed by some lesbian sex which then seems to lead to some sort of breakthrough for Eliza. And I mean, good for her. But as the film finishes, I doubt she’s full self-actualized in this regard. If nothing else, she’s had lesbian sex before. I don’t know why this time would make a difference as to how she views her own body and sexuality. Toni does seem like a saint of a partner, if perhaps too distracted by sex. Toni evens asks Eliza why Eliza didn’t think Toni would be proud of her for her photos. I don’t think Eliza had even considered pride as a response to her photos before then.

The stunning choice of setting helps elevate this classic and still relevant story about small town gossip, hypocrisy and slut shaming. While I would have liked a bit more of a conclusion, Sweet Angel Baby holds together and kept my attention despite many of the beats of the story being classic rather than fresh. The film is great at crafting this small community that struggles between tradition and modernity. And at the centre of that is a woman trying to discover herself and unpack layers and layers of socialization, shame and sexualization.

Overall rating: 6.7/10

Other WLW films in similar genres