The secret of their eyes, by Juan José Campanella: summary and analysis of the film
The Secret in Their Eyes is an Argentine police-themed drama premiered in 2009 and directed by director Juan José Campanella.
Based on the novel The question of their eyes by Eduardo Sancheri, this story represents a round trip through an unsolved murder that, after 25 years, continues to mark the life of Benjamin Esposito.
The film is a masterpiece of world cinema that is capable of moving and moving the viewer thanks to a spectacular narration and the brilliant interpretation of its protagonists.
Summary of the movie
Benjamín Espósito, former secretary of a Buenos Aires Investigating Court, is in his lowest hours at the beginning of his retirement. To fill his life, he decides to write a novel related to a case that moved him 25 years ago.
Attention, from now on there may be spoilers!
In 1974 the young Liliana Colotto was brutally raped and murdered inside her house and Benjamin witnessed the removal of her body. Ricardo Morales, the victim's husband, was shocked after the tragedy and Esposito promised to find the murderer.
Pablo Sandoval, Benjamin's co-worker, and Irene Morales, the new head of the department and in love with Espósito, tried to help him solve the case. Meanwhile, Romano, his rival at work, manages to frame two workers.
However, Benjamín refused to believe this version of events and continued investigating until he found some photographs of the victim in which he was able to identify a suspect: Isidoro Gómez. Thus, the protagonist tries to follow his trail, but a series of events lead Irene to close the case.
In 1975 Espósito sees Ricardo Morales again sitting in a train station. The man had been scouring different stops relentlessly trying to find the murderer of his wife.
Moved by what happened, Espósito gets Irene to reopen the case and investigates Gómez's whereabouts with Sandoval. One day, during a soccer match, they find him and detain him for questioning. At that moment, Irene gets the man to confess to the crime but, far from imprisoning him, Morales decides to release him because of his status as a hitman, an accomplice of justice.
Days later, Esposito finds Sandoval's lifeless body and concludes that Sandoval impersonated his identity (Benjamin's) to avoid being killed.
Thus, Benjamin decides to go to Jujuy to save his life, leaving behind the possibility of living a love story with Irene.
After a decade he returns to Buenos Aires and finds out that Romano was assassinated during the dictatorship, Irene is married and Liliana's murderer is still missing.
Back in 1999, the present of the film, Espósito meets Morales and he confesses that he has killed the murderer of his wife. However, the protagonist does not believe his version and discovers that Morales has actually kidnapped him.
Finally, Benjamin confesses his love to Irene in order to pick up a story that he could have been.
Film analysis
Like a train that escapes from a station and fades away on the horizon, this is how Campanella's film begins.
Memory, sometimes, is treacherous and gives us vague memories of what it was. Benjamín Espósito, only remembers clear eyes immersed in the hectic and diffuse environment of a platform, those of a young Irene who observed how she let escape a love that she could be.
It is undoubtedly a metaphor for the passage of time and how the fragility of memory surprises us with remnants of the past, impossible to guess as accurate or not.
There is nothing better than a train to mark the beginning of the protagonist's cathartic journey, as an allegory of the ephemeral nature of life, and a platform, like a canvas of blurred memories that do not end outline.
Sociopolitical context
Love and revenge are the main themes of this film, set in a context of Argentina in the 70s, which serves as a backdrop.
Although the political context is not explicitly narrated, the country was mired in the imminent government of Isabel Martínez de Perón.
The situations experienced by the characters offers us a brushstroke of the political panorama and a critique of the system of the time, by making allusion to the personal interests of senior justice officials, abuses and corruption, as opposed to the rights of those of citizens.
This can be clearly seen when two workers are arbitrarily charged and convicted of the crime with the end to close the case and exonerate the real murderer, who was collaborating for justice through espionage.
Personal catharsis and love as a trigger for history
How do you go about living an empty life? How do you make a life full of nothing?
Benjamin's character is mired in a personal crisis after his retirement. He feels that his life has not been complete, in part, because of the pain caused by the death of the young woman.
The terror of the blank page, at the beginning of his career as a novelist, and the fear of the transience of life, make him return to the court where he worked to ask for help from Irene, his love from his past.
On the other hand, the memory of the love story lived between the victim and her husband, a love that, in Benjamin's words, “he never saw again”, is it the longing for something that he did not experience that makes him feel? incomplete?
It is clear that the protagonist carries with him the weight of pain and permanent insecurity. To a greater or lesser extent, the viewer can identify with the character's internal fears and with the incoherent actions that characterize human beings.
As the expression says "do not regret what you have done, but what you never did". Thus begins the catharsis of the protagonist who tries to redirect his life and settle the mistakes of the past, for this he uses a failed love story as a trigger for his odyssey.
Game between past and present
If this film stands out for something, it is because of a solid script, nurtured by a narrative structure that is marked by two well-differentiated temporal spaces: present and past. Thanks to the use of flashbacks and the unexpected twists in the script, Campanella manages to feed the suspense and keep the viewer attentive until the end.
On the other hand, we must highlight the mastery of the dialogues, through them the director is capable of awakening both nostalgia, thanks to the narration in off of the protagonist, such as laughter through comic situations and jokes, typical of Argentina, in the dialogues.
The 129 minutes of the film are a puzzle to be built, the pieces of which are dosed with the intention that the viewer assembles along the way.
Personal crisis and crisis of the regime
The film presents a political background marked by unfair situations. In part, the background of the character and his personal crisis symbolizes the situation that Argentina is experiencing at that time.
In this way we understand that "it is necessary to know the history so as not to make the same mistakes." In that sense, Benjamin tries to go back to the past to heal his present and redeem his future. Shouldn't this be the latent message in all governments?
On the other hand, the protagonist comes to play a fundamental role in trying to "save" the judicial system from corruption. This is demonstrated when Isidoro Gómez, a true murderer, receives impunity for his status as a hit man. Given this fact, Benjamin does not give up and continues to fight to do justice to Liliana's death.
Even if, The secret of your eyes, It is not an explicit criticism of the system, it gives us scenes in which a complaint against the established regime underlies. In a very subtle way, the Argentine history of the 70s appears and the arbitrariness and injustice of the time is condemned.
From the aesthetics of the details to the exaltation of movement
The film, as highlighted in the upper lines, is a round trip between present and past. As spectators we go through these two temporary spaces through the eyes of the main character.
In this way, the camera is put at the service of Benjamin and, in many shots, it is placed close to the character, drawing his path from frames established from his shoulder.
On the other hand, the use of short shots and, especially, details is frequent. As noted above, one of the latent themes in the film is the fragility of memory over the years.
To convey this, Campanella plays with the blur and tonality of some objects. For example, in the first sequence, where the protagonist's memories are shy, the director plays with a depth of reduced field, focuses on details, such as Irene's eyes or a suitcase from the station, also slows down and shakes some blueprints.
One of the most frenetic sequences in the film appears when Benjamin and Pablo go to a soccer game with the intention of finding Isidoro Gómez.
This part of the film is resolved with a masterful sequence shot, where the camera will not make any cut from when it locates Benjamin and Pablo in the stands until the murderer is arrested. Thus, the camera travels without cuts: the stands, the corridors and the bathrooms of the football stadium.
It is a technique that helps speed up the film since it increases the pace and allows the viewer to be included more easily in the chase, it makes him a participant in it.
Conclusion: a journey towards personal reconstruction
Love and justice are crowned as protagonists of Campanella's film. Although, the true teaching of the tape promotes a look inside ourselves, through a more personal and intimate reflection, which helps us to get away from the frustration incited by the open wounds of the past.
With this, he invites us to look to the past to rebuild ourselves and not remain inert in the despair of what could have been.
Trailer
If you haven't seen the movie yet, you can watch the trailer here:
