Latin-American cinema continues to provide quality surprises. Though a full class below The White Ribbon and A Prophet, both of which it beat to the Oscar for best foreign film, Argentinian writer-director Juan José Campanella’s winner does not dishonour the competition. It is well-made, intelligently using humour to alleviate its drama, and contains two outstanding performances.
The story takes place in the Buenos Aires of today and in the same city 25 years ago when the military dictatorship corrupted the justice system, along with a lot of other things. Then, court investigator Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darín) became involved in the case of a young woman who was raped and murdered, for which two workmen were wrongly convicted. A quarter of a century later, now retired, he can’t get the crime out of his head and is attempting to write a book about it.
Esposito, a disappointed man, also can’t get out of his mind the fact that the woman he wanted (Soledad Villamil), his immediate superior and secretary of the court, never recognised his love. When they meet again after so many years, the spark is there but he is still hesitant. Meanwhile, having befriended the heartbroken fiancé of the murdered girl, he becomes determined to solve the case.
What we are offered might be dubbed Hitchcockian if it were slightly more expertly done — the puzzle of the crime set amid an increasingly corrupt and dangerous Argentina is complex and seemingly without clues. Esposito, remembering his youth and at first using what remains of his vigour to write his book, has all his private demons exposed so that his quest becomes some sort of justification of his moral and romantic mistakes.
Both Darín and Villamil, two experienced actors, manage to hold the attention throughout, even where Campanella digresses into corners of the story that seem extraneous. This is a film well worth seeing despite the fact that its elevation as an Oscar-winner is a step too far when you think about the outstanding competition.
The Secret In Their Eyes (El Secreto De Sus Ojos)
Cert: 18
