The Secret In Their Eyes

The 82nd Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film goes to a film from Argentina, El Secreto De Sus Ojos (The Secret In Their Eyes), directed by Juan Jose Campanella. This is the second award for Argentina; Luis Puenzo's La Historia Oficial (The Official Story) won the award in 1985.

In The Secret In Their Eyes, a retired criminal court employee, Benjamin Esposito, finds himself idle and bored during the early days of his retirement. He tries to write a novel out of his memories and experiences as a criminal court employee. He particularly desires to write about a horrible case that happened more than 25 years ago, when he was in the middle of his career. That was the case of the murder of a young woman which, for him, did not have a satisfactory close, and this has been troubling and haunting him since.

The film has the feel of a thriller interlaced with a love story(?). The narrative style used in traditional, i.e., flashback (though extended), but it worked quite well since the screenplay is good to begin with. The cinematography and other technicals captured the 1970's atmosphere. The actors are excellent. The result is a film that is unforgettable.

Rating: 4.0/4.0

{13 March 2010}

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