One of the best foreign language movies I've seen...

Rating: 9/10 (7 August 2014)

I'm not a big fan of Argentinian cinema but there are quite a few of their films which I enjoyed and this is on the top.
Through the first one-and-half hour into the movie, it seems like a direction-less journey with too many sub-stories and neither seems to end. But the next half hour clarifies all the doubts stupendously and you are left with a life-long memory of a great climax and a feeling of great satisfaction.
A retired federal agent, BenjamÃ­n Esposito, is deeply haunted by memory of a case he has worked on in past. It is 1999 and he wants to write a novel, his first, on that case, named Coloto case. But he is having troubles getting started. He decides to visit his friend Irene Menendez- Hastings who also worked on the same case with him. She tells him to start at the starting. He does so. It is June, 1974 when he gets information of a girl raped and murdered. Liliana Coloto was attacked when she was alone at her home. Esposito assures her widower that the murdered will get a life-sentence for this crime. Esposito starts working on the case with Hastings and one more of their friend. When they are searching Coloto's house in her hometown, they find some photos and a suspicious young man, Isidoro Gomez, is in almost every picture, eyes always on Coloto. Esposito believes that Gomez is the real murderer. But Hastings denies his claims and tells him that it is impossible to identify a murderer just by his eyes.
Anyways, they keep searching for more clues about Mr. Gomez but find disappointment only.
They give up the case after sometime. A year after that, Esposito runs into Ricardo Morales, the widower of Liliana Coloto, and sees that he sits at the railway station on daily surveillance hoping that someday Gomez will pass from there. Banjamin Esposito is deeply impressed and inspired. He asks Hastings to reopen the case. And after that, the story takes turns, from mindless to mind-blowing. Who is the real murderer? Will Esposito finish his novel? Will Morales ever will be able to live a 'life'? Watch the movie to know. And again, watch out for the climax!
There was probably something between Esposito and Hastings during those old days but that something got buried as the case was ceased. The romance is unearthed when Esposito pays regular visits to Hastings for his novel. She seems to understand him more as a person. There is a twisting touch to this romance towards the end. I'm sure Ricardo Darin, who plays Benjamin Esposito, must have had gone through a tough process preparing for this role, especially mentally. The character he plays in this film is haunted by the memory of that case and wants to get rid of them and thus has decided to write his experiences and memories of the case in his novel. Also, through the case, Esposito had to face some difficulties especially when he wanted to reopen the case but everyone refused him. Towards the end, Esposito seems more of a concerning parent than a federal agent. Getting into mind of such a complex character is definitely not an easy task. But Ricardo performs exceedingly well here. Not for a single time you can complain about the characterization and some credit goes to the writer also who provided so much history and sense to the character.
Soledad Villamil as Judge Hastings provides much needed depth to the character. Hastings is beautiful and smart. She knows what is to be done and how. When Esposito comes troubled to her, she can well understand his concerns and helps him in every way possible. She has a working process of her own and helps in the case a lot with her brains and her beauty. As Ricardo Morales, Pablo Rago shines all the way. This is the character who will bring tears in your eyes in the climax. Juan Jose Campanella is writer-director of the film. To be honest, I love this 'writer-director' thing. I feel when the writer of the film becomes the director, he can do a lot more than he has imagined while writing. Juan does a brilliant job here. He knows the characters and provides them enough time to develop. Also, there is some back-story to every character which helps the audience understand them better. The story of this film is very engaging but sometimes we might feel that this is going in no direction and I think that is the beauty of the story. I'm not going to put much light on the brilliance of the story as it will lessen the fun.
In most of the scenes, there is no requirement of a background music and neither there is. But towards the end, a melodious and a dark music helps rising the mood of the film. An emotional touch in the climax brought tears in my eyes. Felix Monti's music is a treat and you ought not miss it. The music is placed at perfect places with perfect melodies. Superb job! This film won the Academy Award in 2010 beating the favorite, The White Ribbon. I haven't watched that one yet so can't compare the two. All I can say is that The Secret In Their Eyes was well deserving for the Oscar nod and I'm very happy that it got it. Also, this film bagged almost every award at Argentina Film Awards.
The Secret in Their Eyes is full of emotions and thrills. The first one- and-half hour of the film takes its time to develop and is a bit slow but the beauty of these 90 minutes resides in the next 30 minutes. This one is one of my favorite foreign movies. And definitely my favorite Argentinian movie. I will end this review with this question: How does one live a life full of nothing?