Not bad

Rating: 6/10 (7 April 2010)

This is an OK film. I would not say it deserves the Oscar it got, though. I've seen most of the winners in the "foreign film" category over the past decade or so, and I think this movie, although decent, is not in the "best of the year" category.
Although I liked the movie generally, I have more than a few issues with it.
A have a problem with the way they figured out who raped and killed the woman. It was simply based on the way some childhood friend looked at her in a couple of old photos. It's ridiculous and kind of embarrassing. As this is work based on fiction, I think viewers deserve a little less insulting grounds for suspicion than a couple of evil-eye-type looks. I actually expected that the guy they caught didn't do it after all, as their evidence amounted to a big fat zero.
I understand that many things were lost in translation (I watched it with English subtitles) and Argentinian culture, relationships, environment, sense of humor and so on could be quite different from mine or anyone else's. However, I felt that the plot details were sometimes a little confusing until they were clarified later or became obvious. I don't know if that's because of difference in their local approach to storytelling or if it was simply a flaw on the part of screenwriter or director.
Also, characters looked exactly the same in present as they looked 25 years before. It's really confusing to distinguish what's happening when if a guy looks the same when he's 35 and 60. A couple of gray hairs is just not enough for a viewer to figure out he's suddenly 25 years older. Also, none of the decor, technology, hairstyles or cars seem to change in Argentina in 25 years, at least according to this movie. A little weird, when you think about it.
I don't know why they bothered with the continuous stadium shot. It's really nothing special and it adds absolutely nothing to the story. They should have saved the money and invested it into some make-up for actors to make them look older or younger.
All in all, an OK movie that could have used a lot of tweaks to make it more polished, professional and ultimately more believable.