the secret in their eyes

if you are going to only one foreign film about the solving of a decades old murder of a young girl, skip the swedish and go argentinian. "the secret in their eyes" is the 2010 academy award winner for best foreign film. and that's all we knew about it when we went. my friend thought it had something to do with peron because it is partially set in the 70's. while that is historically correct, juan jose campanella, writer and director, brought to the screen a multi-layered story based on eduardo sacheri's novel of human relationships real and or imagined between co-workers and friends, lovers and victims, criminals and judges, god's law and man's laws.

this was unexpectedly funny, smart, neatly executed and a pleasure to watch. ricardo darin was very sympathetic as a detective who is called to crime scene, the murder of a young newlywed, which will change the path of many lives. the cast is excellent, everyone works together very well and very believably. i'm not going to tell you any more of the plot, you should discover it just as i did. this film is now my number 1 favorite film of 2009.

i still like "the girl with the dragon tattoo", but it's impossible not to compare the two because of the basic plot. "the secret in their eyes" has so much more going on that is by far the superior of the two.

animal abuse warning: a little dog is kicked - the actual kick is off camera but the dog rolls across the screen as it yelps. it was meant to be funny, and people did laugh i'm never amused by hurting animals.