The Secret in Their Eyes
Traditionally, whenever I happen to watch a film that wins the foreign Oscar (as I call it), I tend to like the film. Back then, when “Amélie” lost to “No Man’s Land” I had to realize that the latter really was an amazing movie and totally deserved the award. This time, I had hoped for “The White Ribbon” to get the Oscar and after “The secret in their eyes” was explicitly recommended to me, I had extremely high expectations for the film. (It rarely happens that I dislike a recommendation, really.)
How should I put it? “The White Ribbon” definitely is the deeper film, it has some sort of message that is not entirely clear and that goes beyond the nazi stuff. At the same time, I have found both films to be very engaging and dripping with suspense – just in completely different ways. You can barely compare these films at all, just like “No Man’s Land” is entirely different from “Amélie”. While “The White Ribbon” is a society picture, “The secret in their eyes” is the story of a few individuals which don’t have many more specific characteristics besides being beautiful or being funny or having a male genital. The same story could just as well play in Spain, Germany, the US, Japan… literally anywhere. While “Rudo y Cursi” feels extremely Mexican to me, “The secret in their eyes” doesn’t really have much that makes you think it’s all that Argentinian, except for the stylish and rather slow camera movements maybe.
All this is made up by its great story. “The secret in their eyes” is probably the easiest film to recommend that I have seen in the last few months: It’s personal, emotional, partially funny and contains an engaging crime story with many shocking and enjoyable plot twists. The only thing that bothered me a little bit were the photos. As if anybody in this world really shows their true emotions on when pictures are taken of them. Ughh. Apart from that, it’s one of those great films suitable for anyone, just don’t let yourself get spoilered by the end!