Sony Pictures Classics
While you will enjoy The Secret in Their Eyes as I did, it could have been much better. As I stood at the door waiting for the next performance of the Argentinian film to begin, I asked those leaving the theater what they thought of the movie. The responses were "brilliant," "outstanding," and "wonderful." One woman said she didn't think I would enjoy it to the fullest, because I wouldn't understand the colloquialisms. She was right. The audience clearly consisted of a Spanish-speaking contingent that laughed out loud on a number of occasions when the English subtitles conveyed nothing humorous.
The film, located in or near Buenos Aires, contains a number of flashbacks not clearly identified as such so there is some confusion. It takes place in the early era of the Peron fascist dictatorship. While Eva and Juan Peron are not depicted in the film, the presence of a dictatorship is displayed by the actions of police bureaucracy in a rape and murder case.
Shortly into the movie, a very graphic rape occurs. The woman pleads for her assailant to stop, but he continues and ultimately kills her. The murderer is not identified and the case is closed until a detective, Benjamin (Ricardo Darin), decides to write a book on the unsolved murder over the objections of the police department. Benjamin's former superior, Irene (Soledad Villamil), a rich, cultured and beautiful woman who is in love with him, decides to help. So too does his very funny, alcoholic buddy, Sandoval (Guillermo Francella).