Extraordinary film

Rating: 10/10 (18 December 2016)

Retiree Benjamín Espósito is having trouble getting started on his first novel. He pays a visit to the offices of Judge Irene Menéndez Hastings to tell her about his plans to recount the story of the Liliana Coloto case, the one they both worked on 25 years before, when Irene was his new department chief and he was the federal agent assigned to the case. Irene suggests that Benjamin start at the beginning.
The beginning marks the discovery of Coloto's body, raped and murdered in her home in 1974. Espósito promises her widower, Ricardo Morales, that the killer will do life for his crime. Morales states that he opposes the death penalty. Espósito's investigation is joined by his alcoholic friend and assistant, Pablo Sandoval, and the Cornell Law School-educated Menéndez. Before the three can start, their rival, Romano, tries to show them up by having officers beat a confession out of two innocent laborers, who had been working near the couple's apartment. Espósito has the confessions overturned and lashes out at Romano in a justice building hall. Espósito threatens to file a complaint as Romano racially insults the construction workers.