The Secret in their Eyes (2009)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

The Secret in their Eyes (2009) – J. J. Campanella

This Argentinian film won the Best Foreign Film Oscar in 2010 (beating out Haneke’s The White Ribbon and Audiard’s A Prophet – both great).  Ricardo Darin (remembered from Nine Queens) plays a retired police court inspector now writing a novel about a perplexing rape/murder case (seen distressingly in flashback).  The film jumps back and forth between past and present, and eventually clues us in to start questioning the accuracy of “the past” being depicted (is this a novelistic treatment to provide dramatic effect, a consciously or unconsciously wishful reconstruction, or an unvarnished rendering of the facts of the case?).  Regardless, the stereotypical thriller plot keeps the viewer hooked even as it broaches topics usually eschewed such as the lasting impact of grief, vengeance, injustice and even lost love, as we age through the decades.