"How do you live a life full of nothing?"

Rating: 10/10 (21 November 2017)

This is only the second Argentinian movie I've seen, both within the past week (the other was "Wild Tales"), and so far I'm batting a thousand by picking two immensely satisfying films. I was reading some of the negative reviews and I had to laugh, more than one stated that the ending was completely predictable. Yeah right, like anyone could foresee that Morales would kidnap the guy who murdered his wife and keep him a prisoner for twenty five years. Come on, nobody could see that coming.
At least not ahead of time. After the fact, when you start putting two and two together, along with the picture's title, one is able to come to grips with the idea that Morales wouldn't let things go the way the corrupt district Judge Romano (Mariano Argento) did, and would relentlessly pursue his side of the case, in the same manner legal counselor Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) did on his. So much of the story depended on the concept that 'The eyes speak', and in more ways than one. It's what trapped the killer and what gave away the feelings between Esposito and his supervisor Irene Hastings (Soledad Villamil), even though that relationship went unrequited for more than two decades.
The scene that really floored me was when Irene and Esposito began interrogating Isidoro Gomez (Javier Godino). I'm not entirely convinced that what Ms. Hastings did was ethical or not, but the way she demeaned Gomez to make him crack was truly inspired. The man would have to have been deranged to expose himself like that in a law office, so you had a pretty good idea right there that the guy wasn't playing with a full deck. The fact that he was released upon executive order is one of those things that makes one see red in any kind of movie, and inspires that much more contempt of the justice system.
All the while of course, one wonders why Esposito could never reveal his true feelings and intentions with Ms. Hastings. He came close a couple of times, and it looked like she was willing to reciprocate, but those frustrating moments dissolved into just another distraction. I was ready to give it up for lost until the very last scene when Irene told Benjamin that 'it would be difficult'. It leaves the viewer a bit conflicted because the woman had a husband and family that she was going to compromise, something that she and Esposito had done for the last twenty five years.