The Secret in Their Eyes - 3 1/2 smiles

The Academy got it right when they awarded “The Secret in Their Eyes” the Oscar for best foreign language film. This is an intelligent, multi-layered movie, dealing with several different elements and themes. There’s a violent crime story, at least two different love stories, and a story about corruption in the Argentine justice system. There are themes of love, revenge, passion, guilt and redemption. Writer-director Juan Jose Campanella has created a completely engrossing film although I’d recommend you see it more than once: first to read the subtitles and get the gist of the story; the second time to appreciate Campanella’s artful storytelling and the nuanced performances by the cast.

A retired criminal investigator, Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin), has decided to write a book about a case that has haunted him. He visits a judge, Irene Hastings (Soledad Villamil), his former supervisor and the woman he’s loved for more than 25 years. (Because of their class differences – she comes from a wealthy family and graduated from Cornell while he’s poor and street-wise – he never followed through with his feelings.) Benjamin asks Irene for the case file on the rape and murder of a 23-year-old newlywed schoolteacher. This starts an absorbing back and forth journey through time between Buenos Aires in 1974 and 2000, filled with interesting characters that include Sandoval (Guillermo Francella), Benjamin’s alcoholic assistant in the investigation; Morales (Pablo Rago), the husband of the murdered woman who remains obsessed with her death; and the sinister Gomez (Javier Godino), who has always been Benjamin’s key suspect. “The Secret in Their Eyes” is definitely worth seeing, even if you have to travel beyond your neighborhood theater. Subtitles. 4/23/10