This entry from Argentina was the surprise winner of the Oscar for the Best Foreign Language Film in 2009. The problem with these nominations is that only a select few saw this movie last year as it only has to play for a week or two at one theater in New York and another in Los Angeles to be eligible. It has taken four months for this film to open in wider release to include other metropolitan areas at a time when the Oscar awards are but a distant memory. So will this film, if history is any guide, for far too many film fans would rather watch mindless fluff in English than see an excellent film with English subtitles. After seeing this movie, I have to wonder as to why Hollywood can't make a film like this.

"The Secret in Their Eyes" is certainly one of the cinematic highlights for the year. This is a movie that will challenge you and intrigue you. It will also demand that you pay attention, for there are many layers in this plot that stretches over 25 years in Argentina during a period of considerable turmoil and a system mired in rampant political corruption which reached its nadir during the Peronist regime. In addition, the story as filmed includes distant memories of two different people, one of whom is an author who is using dramatic license to embellish his narrative, so what you may think is reality is instead his imaginative fantasy. 

The story starts off simply, but rapidly turns into a very textured plot as both a mystery and a winsome, winning love story. Former lawyer Benjamin Esposito (Ricardo Darin) has been retired for ten years and is now looking for meaning and direction in his life. He latches onto the idea of writing a novel about a case back in 1974 that he had handled as a counselor in the prosecutor's office in Buenos Aires. 

A beautiful young girl, only recently married, had been brutally raped and murdered in her apartment while her husband was at work. Against explicit instructions from a corrupt judge who was also his superior, Benjamin pursued this case until he discovered the identity of the suspect. Helping him to solve it were his immediate superior, Irene Menéndez Hastings (Soledad Villamil) and Pablo Sandoval (Guillermo Francella), the office clerk who inured himself from the political corruption and his unfaithful wife by going off on a bender every day at lunch. 

The office subtext underlying this mystery is the fact that Benjamin is besotted by Irene, who struck him like a thunderbolt from the first moment that she walked into the office. Unfortunately, they come from two different classes, as he worked his way up in the world while she comes from a wealthy family which allowed her to attend a law school in the United States. He is also quite a bit older than she is. Further damaging his cause is the fact that he becomes tongue tied in her presence and is unable to utter any words of love whatsoever. 

What they possess in common is a high degree of integrity and a strong sense of justice in a political climate where these traits are a rarity. Benjamin steps on too many political toes and will retire years before his time, while the more politically astute Irene will try to work within the system. Eventually her tenacity is rewarded, and she is promoted to a judgeship after Argentina returns to democracy, but this happens years after Benjamin left.

While the case was solved and a confession obtained (in a masterpiece of psychiatric legerdemain), the perpetrator, Isadoro Gómez (Javier Godino), escaped conviction by selling his services as a hired gun to the Peronists. He has been free for the last 25 years to live his life as he wishes while the young husband of the victim, Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago), remains trapped in his own private hell of regret for the loss of his beloved wife. 

The concept of justice not served has always plagued Benjamin, so now he visits Irene and asks her to unseal the case. As soon as he walks in the door to her office, he observes that she is just as beautiful as she ever was and also that he loves her just as much. Not that he had ever stopped loving her, for her memory led to an unsuccessful marriage that resulted in divorce. In a very real way, Benjamin has a great deal in common with the ever-grieving Ricardo Morales, for both men are unable to let the past stay in the past and move on. This movie is about both men endeavoring to escape the trap of living an empty life.

On a separate note, Ricardo Darín can also be seen in "Nine Queens," a movie which came out in 2000. My highly favorable review written at that time is on my archived web site. Darin is a leading actor in Argentina with more than 50 films to his credit, but to single him out for praise is to neglect everyone else in this wonderfully cast movie. (Go SEE it or RENT it when it becomes available!)