The Secret in Their Eyes

Mystery, romance in one great film

SOLEDAD VILLAMIL and Ricardo Darin in “The Secret in Their Eyes.”

“The Secret in Their Eyes” is an absorbing, enthralling drama, mystery, thriller and romance.
Released in 2009 from Argentina, the story relies heavily on flashbacks as it chronicles retired Argentinean federal justice agent Benjamin Esposito.
Ricardo Darin plays Esposito, who decides to write a novel based on his most unforgettable case, that of a woman who is raped and murdered.
Now when I say “write,” I mean “write.” He scrawls his prose across lined paper, trying to fictionalize this great story.
Despite it being fiction, Esposito seeks a truth and accuracy, if not downright closure on the case.
He decides to revisit his old boss, Irene Menendez-Hastings, played by Soledad Villamil, to discuss the case and gain her insight.
From there we slip from 1999 back to the mid 1970s, when Darin’s character has no gray in his beard and the Villamil character is new on the job.
Darin is moved, probably more than he expected, when he sees the body of the young victim at a murder scene.
He and his partner, Pablo Sandoval, played by Guillermo Francella, work tirelessly to solve the crime. How indeed do they determine who the killer is?
We watch as they pore through old albums of the victim in her younger years. In many pictures, there is a young man who can’t take his eyes off of her. The look is so intense and all-consuming, the investigators just know from that this must be the killer.
Javier Godino plays Isidoro Gomez, a soccer fan and possible cold-blooded killer and rapist.
At the time his identity is discovered, Gomez is out of the country.
The victim’s husband, Ricardo Morales, played by Pablo Rago, is a soft spoken individual who spends his afternoons after his bank job staking out train, plane and bus stations, hoping to find the individual who killed his wife.
Eventually, the suspect is caught, is tricked into confessing and goes to jail for life, at least that’s what Esposito has promised.
So it is an even bigger surprise when the convicted killer is released early because he helped authorities in even bigger cases.
What’s even more of a surprise is when Sandoval is brutally gun down.
The characters are well-drawn and multifaceted. Every move, every sentence brings new light to the situation. This is a well written and complete story with an excellent cast to go with it.
Nothing predictable here. The costumes, makeup and sets are to perfection as well. They add to the atmosphere.
At the autumn of the film, we see these characters nearing the end of their lives. The Morales character especially appears to have evolved and accepted his life and the death of his beloved wife years earlier.
Or so we assume.
Take nothing for granted in this film. If you think the movie is about to end with a Hollywood-type conclusion, think again. It continues to evolve.
“The Secret in their Eyes” is Argentina’s most viewed cinema since 1983. An American version is apparently in production.
Besides DVD and Blu-ray, it is available through Amazon Instant Video. It is more than worth its 129-minute runtime.

SECRET IN THEIR EYES • Directed by Juan Jose Campenella •Written by Eduardo Sacheri and Campenella •Runtime: 129 minutes •Rated R for a rape scene, violent images, some graphic nudity and language •In Spanish with subtitles •4 stars out of 5

Game Change

History comes alive in ‘Game Change’

HBO
ED HARRIS as John McCain and Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in “Game Change.”

Whether you love or hate Sarah Palin, after you watch the HBO movie “Game Change,” about the 2008 McCain-Palin GOP ticket, you will discover you both love and hate her.
The film, with the uncanny Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin, is based on a book plus articles and interviews with people involved in that celebrated campaign to pull an upset and defeat then Sen. Barack Obama.
The Republicans saw Sen. John McCain as a great statesman and war hero. Obama, meanwhile, was a newcomer with little to show when it comes to accomplishments. Yet Obama stirred up crowds and gained in the polls.
So the McCain staff started looking at vice presidential possibilities to help get another aging white guy into the White House.
Woody Harrelson plays Steve Schmidt, McCain's campaign coordinator, who decided instead of finding another aging, boring white guy for the ticket, it needs a game changer.
And how do you find a game changer? Why, by Googling various Republican female politicians. Some weren’t chosen because of ideological differences with McCain.
Then we switched to Palin, then the Alaskan governor, with her kids, looking like everyone's soccer mom, hauling her children about at a fair, talking to constituents by first name.
Then she got a telephone call and is whisked to Arizona and instantly we all like her. She's charming, she's humble, she is anxious to advance the Republican ticket. But she also has principles as she learns she is the top choice as vice presidential candidate .
At an event at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton she was unveiled as McCain's running mate and knocked one out of the park. It seems everyone can relate to her on multiple levels.
She is a smash at the Republican convention. McCain finds himself even with Obama. Life is good. For awhile.
Then the media starts digging up dirt, but even then we side with Palin. Questions are asked if the new baby is hers or her daughter's child. Yeah, it’s Palin’s because daughter is pregnant herself.
Then we discover Palin is ignorant of the political makeup of the world as well as history and geography. She gets a crash course on who our enemies were during World Wars I and II. She learns Queen Elizabeth is not the head of British government. She learns Iraq did not cause 9-11 and Korea isn't one country.
After she refused to prep for an interview on "The Today Show," she looks like a fool and blames others. Palin is suddenly less likable. She is hurt by “Saturday Night Live” parodies. She wants to do interviews with small Alaskan newspapers and demands to know how she is faring in her home state.
She is not above memorizing a series of facts to get through a debate with Joe Biden, the Democratic vice presidential candidate who is considered a foreign policy expert.
But Palin, a terrific actress, ekes out good debate reviews by repeating those facts she memorized and dodging questions she doesn't have an answer for, then repeating those facts she memorized again.
Moore is dead-on as Palin and the real Schmidt describes the film as "an out of body experience" because it is so accurate.
The real Palin slammed the film, but then, she hadn't seen it.
It rivals "Apollo 13" in how real it feels relating to real events. We see Palin as a many-sided person, sometimes ready to crack up, other times feeling in total control.
Ed Harris plays McCain as a decent guy who wants to win with his ethics intact. After their loss, the McCain character realizes Palin will be a force to reckon with and warns her not to follow the Limbaughs and their ilk in the years ahead, a kind of foreshadowing of what has happened during this year’s campaign.
Moore especially becomes Palin and anyone who followed the 2008 race can feel the authenticity. This is a great, compelling film. It continues to be played on HBO and HBO On Demand will later be released to DVD.
If you enjoy politics, you will like this film. It is not a hatchet job on McCain or Palin or the Republican party by any means.
It is entertainment and education and excellence.

GAME CHANGE • Directed by Jay Roach • Written by Mark Haperin and Danny Strong • Not for young children because of language • Runtime: 2 hours • 5 stars out of 5