Belen Movie Ending Explained & Full Story: Did Julieta Finally Get Justice?

The most vulgar display of patriarchal ego is definitely the shameless assumption that men can dictate the rights a woman has over her body—and this pathetic notion has led a feckless section of the masses to call for anti-choice regulations regarding abortion. Argentine director Dolores Fonzi’s drama, Belen, highlights the worst scenario imaginable in this context; the story revolves around the bizarre and cruel real-life story where an Argentinian woman was unlawfully detained for the ‘crime’ of having a miscarriage, which was translated by authorities as an illegal abortion. The incident, which eventually led to mass protests around the nation, which finally brought reformation in Argentina’s abortion laws, needs to be known by the world in order to acknowledge the woes of numerous victims who have been forced to give up control over their mind and body to patriarchal machinations since time immemorial. Belen is inspired by Anna Correa’s account of the incident and ensuing protests, “Somos Belen” does a great job in showcasing the entire ordeal while remaining faithful to the ground reality.

Spoilers Ahead

Crooked Medical and Authoritative Practice Cost Julieta’s Freedom

The year is 2014. A resident of Argentina’s Tucuman province, Mabel Gomez, admits her twenty-four-year-old daughter, Julieta (names altered in the movie for obvious reasons), to local Alberdi hospital as she is suffering excruciating pain in lower abdomen. The attending doctors or nurses can not deduce the cause of the pain until she undergoes a miscarriage, and the hospital authorities inform local authorities about the situation. Julieta, who is unaware that she was pregnant to begin with, gets the shock of her life when police barge into the OT while she is being operated on and arrest her on the charge of conducting an illegal abortion—translated by the cops as homicide aggravated by relationship, which is a punishable offense. In reality, abortion is a crime in the eyes of the conservative, regressive populace in the province, and the medical, authoritative, and judicial sectors work in unison to perennially rob women of the choice of being a mother. With absolutely no regard for Julieta’s mental or physical condition after the miscarriage, the cops handcuff her and show her the fetus to make her realize the extent of the crime she has committed. Given she belongs to a lower middle-class family, she suffers the worst, and even before her trial begins, Julieta spends two years in prison. Mabel never gets to testify in front of the authorities despite being present on the day with her daughter, and the defense attorney appointed by the court, Beatriz Camano, is as incompetent as she seems unwilling to help her clients. 

Deza’s Role in Letting the World Know of Julieta’s Plight

Attorney Deza Soldad, driven by her zeal to do right by women who have been wronged by the system, learns about Julieta’s predicament and shows interest in the case after speaking with Julieta’s family. It is revealed that previously too Deza has tried to help the clients Beatriz has failed. Julieta can face a life sentence if Beatriz doesn’t take the case seriously, and Deza decides to step in to prevent that from happening. Out of professional courtesy, Deza suggests Beatriz push for the angle of violence of secrecy given how police treated Julieta in the hospital.  However, Beatriz’s sharp reaction to her suggestion tells Deza everything that she needed to know about the situation; Julieta’s sentence will get prolonged if she indeed has to depend on someone as crooked as Beatriz to defend herself. 

As Julieta’s trial begins, hospital orderlies and police lie about what really happened on the day to make it seem that she gave herself an illegal abortion to kill her eight-month-old fetus. Beatriz’s defense is too weak to make an impression on the judge and jury, and Deza tries her best to help Julieta by handing her a book she wrote about similar cases she handled in the past—so that no matter how small, Julieta’s own statements can make a difference. For what it’s worth, thanks to Deza’s last-minute assistance, instead of being subjected to life imprisonment like it was assumed she would have to, Julieta gets an eight-year prison sentence. 

Spending her days in isolation, finding the world turned on her with no one even willing to listen to her truth, Julieta gets afflicted with a misplaced sense of guilt. Deza, the only person who even mentions to Julieta that she is a victim of the system, not a culprit, approaches Julieta and shares her wish to fight for her. Julieta agrees on the condition of protecting her anonymity, as her family can suffer if the news about her case becomes public. Making the Gomez family a part of their case research team, Deza entrusts her friend Barbara Guindal to let the case be known in the media, obviously with Julieta’s secrecy intact. Activists like Perla, who work to raise awareness against obstetric violence, are part of the research team as well—and her account of sexually assaulted teenagers being forced to go through childbirth highlights what kind of barbaric practice these so-called civilized societies continue to uphold to date. 

As Deza begins her own investigation by questioning Alberdi hospital orderlies, matching the details shared by the witnesses during the trial, major discrepancies indicate deliberate falsification on the part of the witnesses. And to make the situation even worse, Judge Farina, who is overseeing their case, has shared his derogatory views, which criminalize Julieta further and expose her identity in public, and the medical records of Julieta are being deliberately kept out of Deza’s reach. Deza decides to use the name ‘Belen’ to ensure Julieta’s privacy and goes to share her predicament in a popular talk show. Deza’s public appearance makes the masses aware of Belen’s case, and as Deza and her team organize rallies to unify women who have suffered like Julieta, people gradually pour in. 

Deza and Her Family Face Trouble

Just as Deza’s movement for Belen’s liberation gains support, sick detractors target her and her family to threaten her to give up the case. That’s exactly what insecure, cowardly criminals usually do when they fail to justify their bigotry and hatred. Deza’s young son receives a death threat from a neighbor, her teenage daughter Flora gets mocked by classmates, and on one occasion, a stone is hurled at their place in the middle of the night. Like Julieta, Deza too is afflicted by a misplaced sense of guilt, as she believes that she has led her family to experience all this. The best part, though, is, her family staying by her side, showing unwavering support no matter what, which remains as her source of strength to continue the good fight. Deza’s father, who is a doctor by profession, remains extremely critical of the doctors who wronged Juelita on the fateful day, and he makes sure Judge Farina, who is revealed to be one of his acquaintances, gets a piece of his mind for deliberately jeopardizing the investigation. Flora, who initially didn’t see eye to eye with her mother as Deza remained too busy with her case to be present for her, actively takes part in Belena’s liberation movement.  Thanks to Deza’s relentless efforts, Julieta sees the light of hope for the first time since being wrongfully detained three years ago. It is no longer a fight that Julieta has to fight alone; thanks to Deza and her team, she now has an army of fellow sufferers standing by her side. 

Did Juelita Finally Get Justice?

Meeting with Judge Farina, Deza asks him to release the medical files of Julieta, or else she will report him for previously exposing the identity of the victim to the public. Farina remains undeterred in his decision to block the files, which prompts Deza and Barbara to craftily obtain them by tricking the new attendant of the archive department. One look at the files reveals why it was being carefully guarded by the people in power; not a single piece of information mentioned in it is either consistent, reliable, or credible to begin with. Juelita’s case was hastily covered up, as the authorities lacked anything substantial to press charges against her. 

Things turn awry when an attempt is made on Julieta’s life as her cell is set on fire, but thanks to the rapid response of a kind prison guard, Paola, Julieta is rescued in time. Paola arranges for Julieta’s escape, but despite having the chance to flee from the prison, Julieta decides to stay. She is confident that justice will be served and is willing to risk her life if needed. The more detractors tried to cover up the truth by stooping to every low imaginable, the fiercer the liberation movement grew, with the whole nation joining to raise a voice for Belen. 

Under extreme pressure from organizations and people across the country, the National Public Defender’s office decides to step in and provides a date of hearing for Julieta’s case. On the day of the hearing, Deza and her family see their car vandalized by bigots, as if that would have discouraged any one of them. In the court, Deza guts the incompetent judiciary, medical, and authoritative departments and shows all the discrepancies in medical records. As Deza mentions, the fight is not Belen’s alone; it is of every single woman of varying ages who has been suppressed by the rotten system, denied justice, and had her life ruined beyond comprehension. Justice for Belen is not only going to acknowledge their predicament, it will also ensure the generations to come don’t have to suffer like this. 

In Belen’s ending, Julieta finally gets her long-awaited freedom and reunites with her family and Deza’s team, and this momentous success paves the way for major reforms in abortion laws in Argentine legislation. But their fight is not over, as Deza, Flora, and all the bravehearts who fought for Belen have built a foundation to continue their work to promote women’s rights and protection from injustice of all forms. Julieta now lives in ignominy, and she assisted in the making of Belen to ensure that her story gets known to the world—which is not just a mockery of the systems running a democracy in the twenty-first century, but also an inspiring account to motivate generations.  

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