X
In Theaters Now
- 2025
- R
- Amazon MGM Studios
- 1 h 45 m
- 2025
- R
- Amazon MGM Studios
- 1 h 45 m
Summary A woman hospitalized for pain discovers she's pregnant. After a medical emergency, she faces criminal charges. With support from her attorney and women's rights advocates, she fights for justice in a landmark case that could change lives.
Directed By: Dolores Fonzi
In Theaters Now
- 2025
- R
- Amazon MGM Studios
- 1 h 45 m
- 2025
- R
- Amazon MGM Studios
- 1 h 45 m
Belén
70
7.6
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Summary A woman hospitalized for pain discovers she's pregnant. After a medical emergency, she faces criminal charges. With support from her attorney and women's rights advocates, she fights for justice in a landmark case that could change lives.
Directed By: Dolores Fonzi
Where to Watch
Not available in your country?
ExpressVPN
Get 3 Extra months free
$6.67/mth
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
70
86% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
14% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable Based on 7 Critic Reviews
70
86% Positive
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
14% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Nov 7, 2025
Fonzi doesn’t sugarcoat this tale, nor does she attempt to make it feel entirely like a piece of activist filmmaking that’s entirely serving a political cause (even if, in many aspects, it is). Yet through her canny pacing and shot choices, she elevates this material far above what might have been expected of it.
Nov 6, 2025
It is ultimately a heartfelt, inspiring story about ordinary people who choose to stand up and make a change – and a reminder that, for so many women, the fight goes on.
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Generally Favorable Based on 5 User Ratings
7.6
80% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
20% Mixed
1 Rating
1 Rating
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
Nov 15, 2025
Me parece increíble, qué decirles. La fotografía la rompe, las actuaciones son muy destacadas y los diálogos son muy profundos. Las pausas, las ojeras y las lágrimas. Sentí un nudo en la garganta durante toda la película y es que cumple en transmitir el miedo, la angustia y la impotencia (para empezar a hablar) que seguramente sintieron las verdaderas protagonistas de esta historia que de ficción no tiene nada. Pero también me gustaría justificar el por qué no puse un 10 y que no es personal con esta película sino con todas las producciones nacionales. Las protagonistas no tienen "tonada" tucumana y como bonaerense sé reconocer de dónde son. Me parece que lo que le falta a las pelis de mi país para ser dignas representaciones de las provincias que forman parte de nuestra Nación es reconocer que las tonadas y los modismos de cada provincia también merecen ser bien representados. Al margen de esto recomiendo fuertemente esta peli, no solo por su historia desgarradora sino por ser una obra de arte en sí misma y porque al terminar de verla te deja esa sensación y ganas de levantarte y salir a formar parte de esta y muchas luchas colectivas que aún tienen mucho camino por recorrer (lamentablemente).
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Nov 21, 2025
Tomando como referencia un caso real, lo más inteligente fue darle seguimiento sin simpatizar en algún sentido con un tema delicado como el aborto. Del cine sudamericano, lo más destacado del año.
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Nov 7, 2025
Perhaps a better film would have prioritized more of the personal over the universal and formulaic, but “Belén” seems more interested in being a rallying cry than a character study. On that count, it will almost certainly succeed, and audiences around the world might soon be chanting “I am Belén” as loudly as Argentine women did in 2017.
Nov 12, 2025
Belén might never regain the vivid rage and terror of its opening minutes, but Fonzi’s film ends up carrying viewers on its own wave of pride and upright conviction, ultimately delivering the hope its promises
Nov 6, 2025
Honoring its protagonist’s struggle by embracing every bit of the difficulty of that struggle, while keeping a deliberate (if not exactly slow) pace, keeps the film grounded in a darkness that Fonzi ensures is always present. While that might seem overwhelming, it gives the film a sense of realism that lifts it above most legal dramas.
Nov 6, 2025
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.
Nov 6, 2025
The film is essentially a legal procedural: solid, mostly entertaining and occasionally gripping.
Nov 20, 2025
O cinema argentino continua me agradando pela temática relevante e desta vez, em que pese uma direção pouco inspirada, o roteiro consegue dar voz e adentrar num caso emblemático de aborto espontâneo que ficara a um passo de criminalizar a mulher, mas que acabou servindo como trampolim a uma legislação de referência, não apenas na América Latina, mas no mundo. Daqueles filmes políticos que simplificam um pouco o maniqueísmo mas tudo com ótimas intenções, e deixam um registro importante na história dos direitos humanos.
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Nov 18, 2025
Dolores Fonzi and Laura Paredes commemorate a victory for the feminist cause, and in doing so, expose the double standards of conservative circles, judicial ineptitude, and the lack of empathy in certain sectors of Argentine society. 'Belén,' of course, is not perfect—the character who gives the film its title is practically a tertiary figure in the story with such limited development—; however, Fonzi and Paredes—the latter with a character who is also discreet but has a greater presence—deliver precisely the film that was needed at a time when the very institutions in Argentina are seeking to dismantle everything that has been built up to now.
Report
Nov 16, 2025
A miscarriage of justice is a truly abhorrent outcome where legal matters are involved. And so it’s particularly ironic and maddening when such a development is rooted in an actual miscarriage itself. Such was the case for 24-year-old Julieta Gomez (Camila Plaate), a woman of modest means from the conservative Tucumán region of Argentina in 2014. In this fact-based story, Julieta is rushed to the hospital with severe abdominal pain and excessive bleeding, unaware that she’s in the process of miscarrying (or even that she’s pregnant). However, while undergoing treatment, she’s falsely accused of having performed an illegal abortion on herself during a bathroom visit, a procedure she was clearly in no condition to carry out on her own at the time. With flimsy accusations and questionable proof against her, authorities arrest Julieta while she’s still lying in a hospital bed receiving care. She then spends the next two years incarcerated awaiting trial for her alleged crimes. And, when she’s finally brought into court, she’s saddled with inept counsel and the prejudice of a corrupt, agenda-driven judicial system more concerned with keeping women disempowered than meting out real justice. She’s subsequently and summarily handed an unjust, unfounded eight-year prison sentence that her new activist attorney, Soledad Deza (portrayed by writer-actor-director Dolores Fonzi), intends to appeal. To effectuate this goal, Deza ramps up an aggressive publicity campaign to win public support for her client in her quest to obtain a new hearing, one that garners national – and even international – attention for women’s rights in Argentina, particularly with regard to the right to choose. And, to safeguard Julieta’s identity from undue scrutiny, she’s given the pseudonym “Belén,” which translates to “Bethlehem,” an intentionally loaded term in a predominantly Catholic country like Argentina where conventional religious values hold considerable sway in shaping public policy and jurisprudence. Director Fonzi delivers a fairly inspiring and noble tale in her second feature outing, with fine performances from Plaate and in her own lead portrayal. However, the narrative treatment here is somewhat pedestrian, following a rather rote, formulaic and surprisingly predictable approach, even among viewers who might not know much about the story going in. The film thus ultimately plays very much like material one would find in a typical television drama or movie of the week. Moreover, many incidents leading up to the new hearing feel like they’ve been lifted largely intact from other courtroom-based sagas, such as “In the Name of the Father” (1993), “Conviction” (2010), “Bridge of Spies” (2015) and “The Trial of the Chicago 7” (2020), despite differences in the particular circumstances from those stories. To be fair, “Belén” is by no means a bad film, but it doesn’t feel especially fresh or original, either. Considering the significant gains to have come from the diligent efforts of Deza and her peers, it would have been preferable to see this courageous team of advocates get a better, more uplifting picture than what has emerged out of an otherwise-somewhat underwhelming production.
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Awards
San Sebastián International Film Festival
• 2 Wins & 3 Nominations
José María Forqué Awards
• 1 Nomination
Astra Film Awards
• 1 Nomination
