When you start watching the film The Caregiver, it gives off such a creepy vibe that you might think to yourself, “Maybe this is a horror story.” But let me tell you, it’s not. What it ends up being is much more horrifying than you could ever imagine. It is a thriller movie directed by Ariel Luque. In this film, we meet Emma, a nurse by profession. She becomes the caregiver for an elderly woman named Dasha Belov. From the moment she takes the job, troubles start to arise in her life. Emma already knew that taking care of Dasha might be challenging. From the very beginning, Dasha’s son, Alexander, warned Emma that his mother often behaves strangely, hallucinates, and sometimes gets violent. This behavior is why the previous caregiver, Karen, left the job. However, the story Alexander tells and the actual situation are very different. What is the truth behind Dasha Belov? Is she merely pretending, or is there something else that she and her family are hiding? We will uncover the truth in this explanation of the movie The Caregiver.
Spoilers Ahead
What happened to Alexander?
Dasha Belov was a doctor herself. When we first met her in the movie, she came off as an old woman who did not know what was real and what was not. She often hallucinated and talked to herself, but things were not as they seemed. Let me tell you, it was all just a mere pretense. Just like Emma, many others had been trapped by this act. Dasha and her son had tricked many nurses who came to take care of her, causing them to leave the job eventually. When Emma first entered Dasha’s house, it was a very old, creepy mansion. What was even creepier was the way Dasha talked to herself, making it seem like there was some ominous creature planning to harm her. Emma, being the nice and caring caregiver that she was, tried her best to take care of her. After all, she had faced abuse from her own father, and seeing the cut marks on Mrs. Belov’s body made her worry. She thought there might be someone taking advantage of Dasha’s situation or trying to harm her for their own benefit.
As Emma started living there, she noticed a baby’s room and heard lullabies being sung. One day, she found herself becoming senseless, and when she woke up, she saw that she had been injected in the stomach. But she had no idea when this had happened. Until one day, Emma saw Dasha Belov, the supposedly old and mentally unstable patient, in a very lucid state. Obviously, she was shocked to see her like that. Wearing a red doctor’s costume, Dasha came to inject her again and ended up sedating her. Then, she and her son Alexander tied Emma to the bed. When Emma woke up, she realized the whole truth: Mrs. Belov was involved in baby trafficking. She and her son used Alexander’s sperm to perform artificial insemination on their targets, basically the caregivers who came to “take care” of Dasha. They made them pregnant, and once the baby was born, they killed the mothers. They had been doing this for a long time. Emma was shocked and didn’t know what to do. So, the minute Mrs. Belov left the room and Alexander came to tell her that his mother would take care of her, just as she took care of the other pregnant women selling their babies for money, Emma realized this was her chance. She took a screwdriver out of the drawer, shoved it into Alexander’s neck, and ended up killing him.
What happened to Karen?
Remember Karen, the previous caregiver who supposedly left the job because she couldn’t handle the pressure of working for Dasha? Emma ended up finding her in the basement of the house, tied in shackles and in a pregnant state. She was furious and heartbroken upon seeing this. She couldn’t believe someone could be so ruthless. Emma knew that, having killed Alexander, Mrs. Belov was not going to let her go and would definitely kill her. But before that could happen, Emma wanted to flee and take Karen with her. The problem was that Karen was about to give birth that very day and was in a very critical condition. Despite Emma’s efforts to save her, she couldn’t. Mrs. Belov, literally holding her at gunpoint, made Emma take Karen upstairs from the basement. Then, once Karen gave birth to the baby, Mrs. Belov killed her. Even though Emma desperately wanted to save Karen, she could not.
What happened to Anna?
Once the baby was born, Emma realized she was about to be the next target. Mrs. Belov dragged her down to the basement where Karen had been kept, and it was clear Emma was set to end up just like Karen. But Emma wasn’t going to let herself be a victim like that. She was determined not only to protect herself but also to ensure Mrs. Belov couldn’t hurt anyone else. Emma noticed a box full of Alexander’s collected sperm and smashed it right in front of Mrs. Belov. With that box destroyed, Mrs. Belov’s twisted plans were ruined. With Alexander dead and the sperm gone, Emma and her baby were now the only ones left—Mrs. Belov’s last hope. Emma knew she had to act fast, and knew that as she was pregnant, Mrs. Belov wouldn’t kill her. Even when a Russian man, likely involved in the baby trafficking racket, showed up to finish Emma off, Mrs. Belov killed him to protect Emma and the child. Emma saw this as her chance. She grabbed a piece of glass and stabbed Mrs. Belov in the back, which left her unconscious on the floor. Amid all this chaos, Mrs. Belov’s daughter, Anna, suddenly appeared. It was clear Anna had no part in her mother’s horrific plans. But Emma couldn’t let her go either. In a physical confrontation between the two, Emma overpowered Anna. She first hurt her eyes and then ended her life with a gunshot.
In The Caregiver‘s ending, we see that Emma fled from the house, holding Karen’s baby in her arms. However, she wasn’t the only one who escaped the scene—Dasha Belov was still alive and managed to flee before the police arrived. Emma knew that after nine months, when her own baby was due, Dasha would definitely come to steal it, and that’s exactly what happened. But Dasha was in for a surprise. Emma ended up getting an abortion. Emma couldn’t believe that Dasha still tried to take the baby and kill Emma in the process. In a final act of taking revenge, Emma ended up killing Dasha. When the police arrived at the scene, it was clear that Emma had acted in self-defense. After all, for quite some time, the story of Dasha Belov and her baby trafficking ring had created a huge buzz. May Emma find the peace she deserves now with Karen’s baby. At least she managed to save one innocent life, which is the true highlight of her struggle.
