The Secret in Their Eyes

Director: Juan Jose Campanella
Cast: Ricardo Darin, Pablo Rago, Soledad Villamil and Javier Godino
Releasing in cinemas: 27 May 2010
Rated: MA 15+

This curious amalgam of a crime thriller (of the Waking the Dead ilk) and an unrequited love story spread over many years is set in Buenos Aires during a time political upheaval. The Argentinean picture centres around a cold case of a brutal rape and murder, and won the Best Foreign Film Oscar this year; knocking my pick The White Ribbon off its perch. Not at all sure I agree with that decision but the ‘eyes’ have it.

The plot concerns court investigator Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) who, in retirement, decides to pen a novel about an unsolved rape/murder case twenty-five years earlier. Having worked on the case, Benjamin’s been haunted ever since by his promise to the victim’s distraught husband, Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago), he would catch the killer.

He’s aided by a court judge and colleague Irene (Soledad Villamil) with whom he’s been secretly in love over that period, although it seems not to have been reciprocated as Irene has married another. It must be said Esposito isn’t an ardent suitor.

Using flashbacks, we learn of the awful murder of the young woman and the investigation at the time. In a early group photograph, Esposito notices a man looking down at the victim, and homes in on this suspect, Gomez (Javier Godino), who finally confesses to the murder and is imprisoned for life. However in a political regime change, he’s released and becomes a hitman for the Peronist party.

When Benjamin’s loyal partner Sandoval (Guillermo Francella) is shot, having been mistaken for Esposito, he believes Gomez is behind the killing. Esposito can’t find peace until Gomez is returned to prison, but the hitman has disappeared. Morales then admits a frightful secret which leads Esposito to an even darker resolution with considerable bearing on his future and romance.

Fundamentally we have a routine crime story, broadly related to the Law & Order style of thing. This is not particularly surprising since Argentinean Juan Jose Campanella, who wrote and helmed The Secret in Their Eyes, directed episodes of that very series when working in the USA. However for those used to armchair television crime dramas like Cold Case this will be a wake-up call; a much more engaging experience; for Campanella knows his film craft and provides a depth to the characters seldom seen on the small screen.

The cast is impeccable. Ricardo Darin’s bearded Bunuel-style hero with a hang-dog countenance, evokes sadness in his reticent relationship with Irene whom he thinks socially above him. Soledad Villamil is superb as the slightly aloof Irene, a handsome woman with expressive eyes. Guillermo Francella as Sandoval delights as the alcoholic sidekick and has a faint resemblance to Woody Allen. Pablo Rago gives a suitably dark edge to Morales. Since the leads have to convincingly age 25 years during story, it’s an extra dimension required in their performances.

There’s also the superb visual style of the film at times; with an almost dreamlike texture contrasting to the stark realism of the girl’s murdered body. Extreme close-ups concentrate on the actors’ every expression, especially the eyes; not to mention the tour-de-force of the soccer stadium sequence when the camera swoops down from the heavens and ends up among the crowd. Orson Welles would approve of Felix Monti’s inventive cinematography. Yet it’s not all beer and skittles. Elegiac pacing and uneven dramatic emphasis on scenes which lack importance in moving the plot forward may deter some, although there’s much to applaud for those who persevere.

John Bale