Before even sitting down to watch Juan Campanella’s ‘The secret in their eyes’, it already had a lot to live up to. With its somewhat surprising success at this year’s Academy Awards in the Best Foreign Feature category the movie, some might say, controversially pipped two phenomenal films, ‘A prophet’ and ‘The white ribbon’ to the coveted prize. But let’s not give it an automatic 5/5 rating, based on past achievements, shall we? After all, ‘Forest Gump’ beat ‘The Shawshank redemption’ to the Best Picture prize in 1995 and in my humble opinion that doesn’t make Gump the superior film.
BY ANDREW MOORE
Based on Eduardo Sacheri’s book La Pregunta de Sus Ojos (The Question in Their Eyes), a retired legal counsellor writes a novel hoping to find closure for one of his past homicide cases and for his unreciprocated love with his past boss – both of which still haunt him decades later.
A surprisingly accessible film; the pace and execution of the storytelling is absolutely glorious, as well as its seemingly effortless ability to skip back and forth between the ’70s and ’90s in its intertwining narrative.
The settings of Buenos Aires add a resplendently understated elegance to the feature, arguably similar in many ways to the film Adrift. The vibrant settings of Argentina enhance the film in a way Francis Ford Coppola’s Tetro failed to truly demonstrate.
The performances, however, are where the film truly shines. Ricardo Darin, in the leading role as Benjamín, is magnificent. He is shown in the vintage ’70s sequences as a man full of heart, as well as a truthful exuberance for the law. The more modern day narrative is in opposition, we see a man full of regret and faint wisdom as he refuses to move on from what has already become.
Equally, his female opposite, Soledad Villamil, is as beautiful as she is compelling. Yet it is interesting that her character does not change much from how she is originally seen in 1974; younger, of course, but always waiting for her man to sweep her off her feet. In this respect the film is, at its core, quite a moving and heartfelt love story which spans a generation.
Despite some particularly gritty moments, on par with the wonderful cinematic adaptation of The girl with the dragon tattoo, the ethically grey themes, touched upon in the film are fascinating. One particular area concerns the troublesome loopholes in a justice system, where a man convicted of murder can walk free by simply providing information to authorities. Faintly similar, nothing more, to the ridiculous Law abiding citizen, but told with much more intelligence and with a resulting vengeance even more sinister than a wounded husband who goes on a senseless killing spree.
Because the film is always being told from Darin’s first person perspective, essentially Benjamin’s novel, there is a hint of over-elaborate storytelling and romanticising of his past affair, but regardless it makes for truly compelling cinema.
Whether the film deserved the Oscar ahead of A Prophet or The white ribbon is frankly a ridiculous argument to get embroiled in, and not what the film should be judged on. However, regardless of which film you prefer, The secret in their eyes is still a gloriously executed crime thriller with some genuinely classy performances and exquisite surroundings. All from a bloke who directed a few episodes of House no less.