Secret in their eyes
The 2009 Best Foreign Language Oscar was won by an Argentine outsider, The Secret in their Eyes. Like a well-trained thoroughbred from a lesser-known stable, it slipped past the two odds-on favourites at the last minute. Those Austrian and French entries, which had romped home in other award races, probably cancelled each other out in the Oscar voting stakes and left the field clear for the Argentine entry.
Its highly-fancied competitors were also carrying the sort of foreign-language weight that Oscar members don't always welcome. The White Ribbon was a B&W critique of early-20th-Century northern European Protestantism, while The Prophet presented a disturbing overview of French penal policies and racism. Both presented unpleasant reviews of human behaviour and relationships.
By comparison, the Argentine movie provides two gripping, old-fashioned (ie Hollywood-style) hours of character studies in a political thriller. Akin to Cold Case and other US TV dramas in which old mysteries are solved, by convenient coincidences and modern technology, it tracks the efforts of three Justice Department officials and a vengeful husband to catch the rapist who killed a young woman.
The movie operates in two time zones, back in a post-Peronist era of populist military dictatorship and 25 years later, when the retired chief investigating officer has the time and continuing determination to catch the killer. The scenario would be more credible if the lead characters' dyed hair, make-up and fashions changed more perceptibly.
Fortunately, good acting ensures that viewers aren't lost in time for long (though fans of Alan Rickman will be distracted by the lead actor's very Rickmanesque glances). The plot has a trove of twists to hold audience attention. The director (Juan Jose Campanella) adopts stylish camera angles - unexpected heights, distant glimpses, sudden close-ups - to further boost the dramatic tension, as does his very limited usage of background music.
A classy piece of work until its last few minutes, the movie ties up loose ends too happily, resolving all mysteries too conveniently for cineastes' comfort. The Oscar race's pair of highly-rated losers weren't so kind to their audiences. Hollywood loves happy endings in any language.
Its highly-fancied competitors were also carrying the sort of foreign-language weight that Oscar members don't always welcome. The White Ribbon was a B&W critique of early-20th-Century northern European Protestantism, while The Prophet presented a disturbing overview of French penal policies and racism. Both presented unpleasant reviews of human behaviour and relationships.
By comparison, the Argentine movie provides two gripping, old-fashioned (ie Hollywood-style) hours of character studies in a political thriller. Akin to Cold Case and other US TV dramas in which old mysteries are solved, by convenient coincidences and modern technology, it tracks the efforts of three Justice Department officials and a vengeful husband to catch the rapist who killed a young woman.
The movie operates in two time zones, back in a post-Peronist era of populist military dictatorship and 25 years later, when the retired chief investigating officer has the time and continuing determination to catch the killer. The scenario would be more credible if the lead characters' dyed hair, make-up and fashions changed more perceptibly.
Fortunately, good acting ensures that viewers aren't lost in time for long (though fans of Alan Rickman will be distracted by the lead actor's very Rickmanesque glances). The plot has a trove of twists to hold audience attention. The director (Juan Jose Campanella) adopts stylish camera angles - unexpected heights, distant glimpses, sudden close-ups - to further boost the dramatic tension, as does his very limited usage of background music.
A classy piece of work until its last few minutes, the movie ties up loose ends too happily, resolving all mysteries too conveniently for cineastes' comfort. The Oscar race's pair of highly-rated losers weren't so kind to their audiences. Hollywood loves happy endings in any language.
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