Belén

A province in the northwest of Argentina. A young woman goes to hospital with abdominal pain. She does not know she is pregnant. At the hospital she miscarries. The staff call the police and she is detained the same day; the charge is that she killed her baby. There is no evidence, the autopsy is disputed and no defence is made. She stays in custody for years. Then a lawyer takes up the file and dismantles how the case was built, piece by piece: the medical report, the record of her statement and the judgement. Dolores Fonzi directs and plays the lawyer. Camila Plaate plays the young woman. It is an Argentine production. The events behind the narrative are real: a case in Tucumán caused nationwide argument and the woman was released after campaigns. Her real name was not used in the case and she was known publicly by another; the film carries that name. The matter it treats comes before the argument over abortion: medical staff breaching a patient's privacy, and suspicion taking the place of proof. The narrative gives weight to the court sections and the medical detail is given without simplification. In Argentina the case became one of the examples often cited in the process leading to legalisation. Fonzi was known as an actor and this is her second work as a director. Who it is for: viewers who like political drama based on a real case. Who it is not for: the subject is heavy, the narrative angry, and some sections didactic.