There are movies that are good, and ones that are horrible; and then there are movies that jolt you to the realization that despite such sincere efforts by hollywood and bollywood and such other 'woods', you still have not been completely desensitized or jaded. 'The truth in their eyes' did that to me, and I am still feeling the tremors. S had put the movie in queue as we had decided to try and watch more international movies than we have been, and also as I had been taking spanish classes and watching movies in spanish may help.
But I digress.
'The secret in their eyes' or El secreto de sus ojos is an argentinian movie and I suppose it can be categorized as a thriller save that the movie does not quite allow you to make that decision. The direction is brilliant, and I have rarely seen a director who's capable of having such a control over his audience (the audience being me) that the audience (still me) has no way of looking at the movie than how he wants it.
Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) is a newly retired court investigator and post-retirement he has begun writing a book on his life and the one case that he could not let go of - the rape and murder of a newly wed woman. His involvement in the case was made more complicated by the presence of the alluringly beautiful Irene (Soledad Villamil in a spectacular role) who's a new judge and his superior and their feelings for one another; as well as his relationship with his brilliant but depressed assistant. They are able to capture the killer and send him to prison. However, later on, during a political turmoil, the killer is set free, and he sets out trying to take his revenge on them. The case changes his life, and the way he looks at life; and twenty-five years after the rape-murder and the apprehension of the killer, after his retirement, Benjamin decides to look back and write it down just so it may make a little bit of sense; and they slowly begin to make sense till Benjamin makes a very disturbing realization.
The actors are very good, the script is very taut and the cinematography is brilliant. But the best attribute of this movie is that the protagonists are achingly human. Oh, did I mention that the movie is very very cerebral? It is, trust me.
