The Secret in their Eyes is a 2009 crime thriller from Argentina directed by Juan José Campanella. This movie actually won the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film at the 82nd Academy Awards.
The story starts with a meeting between Benjamin (Ricardo Darin) and Irene (Soledad Villamil) in year 1999. Benjamin used to be criminal investigator and Irene is now a judge. Benjamin is trying to write a novel about one of the cases he worked on back in 1974. The two recount their efforts on solving that particular rape and murder that happened in 1974. Majority of the movie takes place in 1974 and it is consisted of flashbacks. Here Irene is a young ambitious assistant of a judge.
The story begins with Benjamin being assigned to the murder and rape case of Liliana Coloto. On his investigation he is joined by his alcoholic assistant and friend Pablo Sandoval (played by Guillermo Francella). Pablo works here essentially as comedy relief. Irene also heps them with their investigation. On the other side we have Romano who essentially tries to one up them and resolve the case on his own. He uses, you can say a bit of unorthodox method of resolving the case by beating a confession out of two innocent construction laborers who had been working near the crime scene. And considering that they were working in a time period when police corruption run supreme, and when criminality often went unpunished, their investigation was made that much harder.
The movie beautifully inter wovens the crime story with a romantic and you can say sexual tension between Benjamin and Irene. As much as this movie is a recount of that case that took place in 1974, it also shows us that interaction between Irene and Benjamin. At the beginning of the movie we see that they are living separate lives, with each one having their families, but in flashbacks we can see that there was more to their relationship than their friendship. You can even say that movie is more about unfinished emotions between the two than it was about the crime story. Or at least it is more interested in showing us what led to them not making it together.
Campanella, the director of this film, actually did some work in USA, he directed a couple of episodes of House and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. This movie actually gave me that strange Law and Order vibe. Movie is simply gorgeously filmed, with actors doing amazing job and providing us with a great piece of cinema. The back and forth between 1974 and 1999 works flawlessly, providing us with more information and subtext of the whole ordeal.
This is a great movie, that I'm pretty sure no one will regret watching.
The story starts with a meeting between Benjamin (Ricardo Darin) and Irene (Soledad Villamil) in year 1999. Benjamin used to be criminal investigator and Irene is now a judge. Benjamin is trying to write a novel about one of the cases he worked on back in 1974. The two recount their efforts on solving that particular rape and murder that happened in 1974. Majority of the movie takes place in 1974 and it is consisted of flashbacks. Here Irene is a young ambitious assistant of a judge.
The story begins with Benjamin being assigned to the murder and rape case of Liliana Coloto. On his investigation he is joined by his alcoholic assistant and friend Pablo Sandoval (played by Guillermo Francella). Pablo works here essentially as comedy relief. Irene also heps them with their investigation. On the other side we have Romano who essentially tries to one up them and resolve the case on his own. He uses, you can say a bit of unorthodox method of resolving the case by beating a confession out of two innocent construction laborers who had been working near the crime scene. And considering that they were working in a time period when police corruption run supreme, and when criminality often went unpunished, their investigation was made that much harder.
The movie beautifully inter wovens the crime story with a romantic and you can say sexual tension between Benjamin and Irene. As much as this movie is a recount of that case that took place in 1974, it also shows us that interaction between Irene and Benjamin. At the beginning of the movie we see that they are living separate lives, with each one having their families, but in flashbacks we can see that there was more to their relationship than their friendship. You can even say that movie is more about unfinished emotions between the two than it was about the crime story. Or at least it is more interested in showing us what led to them not making it together.
Campanella, the director of this film, actually did some work in USA, he directed a couple of episodes of House and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. This movie actually gave me that strange Law and Order vibe. Movie is simply gorgeously filmed, with actors doing amazing job and providing us with a great piece of cinema. The back and forth between 1974 and 1999 works flawlessly, providing us with more information and subtext of the whole ordeal.
This is a great movie, that I'm pretty sure no one will regret watching.
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