A courtroom thriller with an activist’s beating heart, “Belén” centers on two women without whom the legalization of abortion in Argentina, in 2020, might not have happened: Julieta (Camila Pláate), a young woman who is imprisoned after suffering a miscarriage; and Soledad Deza (Dolores Fonzi, who also directs), the impassioned attorney who takes on her case. To protect her anonymity during the high-profile court battle, Julieta takes on the moniker Belén — a name that comes to symbolize the reproductive rights movement that this real-life drama chronicles with moderately engaging efficiency.
In the tense opener, Julieta stumbles into the emergency room with stomach pain, but ends up losing her baby without realizing she was pregnant in the first place. When the cops storm in and accuse Julieta of performing an abortion on herself, the doctors are all too willing to collaborate. Fonzi captures these exchanges with dizzying speed as, in her delirious state, Julieta goes quickly from patient to murder suspect at risk of spending the rest of her life in jail.
The righteous fury over Julieta’s ordeal is embodied by Soledad, who goes on to play detective with her wry bestie (Laura Paredes, who wrote the script with Fonzi) and uncovers a vast conspiracy to incriminate Julieta: She is initially paired with a notoriously lousy public attorney; her file is locked away, covered in red tape; and the judge overseeing her case is much too eager to delay each step of the trial.
Aided by a team of feminist colleagues, Soledad takes the case public, risking her safety and reputation as she contends with Argentina’s deeply entrenched anti-abortion conservatism. Tracking the rise of what would come to be known as the Green Wave movement in support of women’s bodily autonomy — which began in Argentina and inspired similar movements throughout Latin America — the film weaves a surprising amount of history into a procedural framework. It’s eye-opening, even though it’s hitting the same old beats.
Belén
Rated R for bloody pregnancy imagery, police intimidation and protest violence. In Spanish, with subtitles. Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes. In theaters.
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