An eye for an eye

Rating: Null/10 (7 April 2014)

THE SECRET IN THEIR EYES is a powerful multi-decade Argentinian thriller, which brilliantly switches genre from police procedural to political thriller to horror, whilst also retaining elements of workplace comedy and unfulfilled romance. Its hero, haunted and lonely, decides to write a novel about the unsolved rape-murder case - brutally but not luridly depicted - which has hung over him for years. The film flits through memory and literature (very Latin American) as it navigates the squalid reality of Peronist Argentina, where murder is rewarded, the cops are more brutal than the criminals, and love is doomed. Exciting, amusing and horrific it combines technical brilliance - a sublime chase through a football match - with great drama and a savage, almost Biblical, conclusion in which vengeance and a last hope for love are mixed. Altogether, excellent.