Review: The Secret in Their Eyes

Argentina’s The Secret in Their Eyes is a complex crime-investigative drama, with strong moral and messages, which emerged as a surprise Oscar winner of the 2009 Best Foreign Language Film.
 
The protagonist of the increasingly engrossing tale is former Buenos Aires state court criminal investigator Benjamin Esposito (popular Argentinean actor Ricardo Darin). Benjamin is recently retired but he is not at peace with himself—an event of the past continues to haunt him. A twenty-five year -year old case, which resulted in many lost opportunities, still preoccupies his memories and his life. As a result, he decides to write a novel about the case, which alters the course of his life in the hopes of finding closure after years of uncertainty.
 
Alternating between past and present, “The Secret in Their Eyes” proceeds to tell the story of a 1974 brutal rape-murder of a beautiful twenty-three year old woman and Espósito’s attempt to solve the case. In the course of the investigation Espósito is struck by the victim’s husband, Ricardo Morales (Pablo Rago), a young bank employee whose singular love and devotion for his wife only puts into question Espósito’s own obsession with his newly appointed superior Irene (Soledad Villamil), a beautiful and upper-class sophisticate with a law degree from Cornell.
 
Espósito and his quirky partner, Sandoval, Argentina’s renowned comic Guillermo Francella, whom he must often rescue from drunken escapades – identify and track down their suspect, Gomez (Javier Godino), and with the help of Irene, secures his confession. As the case seems to be over and Espósito is on the verge of revealing his feelings for Irene, his life begins to unravel.