Belén is an inspiring story from Argentina about women rising up for justice and women’s rights. It’s based on real events. It’s particularly relevant to the current situation in the U.S. around women’s rights and women’s reproductive health.

Belén begins with a thin woman with no visible signs of pregnancy named Julieta (Camila Plaate) seeking care for abdominal pain in a hospital. She’s barely examined by a disinterested doctor and an angry nurse. She struggles off to a bathroom by herself where she has a miscarriage.

When she staggers out of the bathroom with blood running down her legs, she’s taken off to the gyno ward. Within minutes, the police are there with a large fetus in a cardboard box. They arrest her while she’s still on a hospital bed for murdering her baby. She’s thrown in jail for 2 years before she even sees a judge. Her public defender is incompetent.

Women’s rights lawyer Soledad Deza (Dolores Fonzi) overhears Julieta’s mother talking about the case and becomes interested. She and her partner take over the case.

There are so many missing facts and so many discrepancies in what passes for evidence in the case against Julieta that Soledad and her partners have great difficulty getting a solid case built.

While they are organizing a case and a defense, Julieta and her family are persecuted as baby murderers. Soledad and her family are harassed and threatened.

Soledad decides to call Julieta by a fake name, Belén, to protect her and her family. She organizes protests calling for justice for Belén. She generates publicity and calls for more protests. Her office fills with organizers.

The women of Argentina respond in huge numbers. By the end of the struggle, women from all over the country are in the streets demanding justice for Belén and an end to the strict anti-abortion laws in the country. They wore green and chanted, “We are all Belén.”

In the end, Julieta was proved innocent and set free. The laws for abortion in Argentina were changed.

The events in the film took several years to reach a conclusion. The story was streamlined for the retelling, but based on fact. It was an inspiring watch and a testament to the power of protest and organized action by women.

Dolores Fonzi who played Soledad also directed the film. There’s an interesting interview with her about the film in Screen Daily.

Belén was the official submission of Argentina for the Best International Feature Film category of the Academy Awards in 2026. You can see it on Prime Video.