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“The secret in their eyes” – movie review


“I don’t know if it’s a memory or a memory of a memory that I am left with”, the deceased woman’s husband contemplates. We are shown the view of the railway station with their backs turned towards the camera. In a brief shot, the protagonist is shown bewildered at first and deeply disturbed the next moment. The case is officially closed, but the husband tirelessly pursues, with the discomforting fact that he is beginning to forget his wife. He confesses to the protagonist about how he wished he could hold on to the memory of beautiful deep pink flushed cheeks of his wife glowing in the morning sunlight that slipped through their undulating curtains on the morning of the murder.

First thing that you will notice in the movie is the close-up and long shots used alternatively. Shifting between the shots, for instance - you are shown wide range long shot of distant memories of the protagonist; in a flash frame shifts into a bloody violent rape of a lady in her twenties. And, this one is a close-up shot.

“It is just that I remember many beginnings….where do I start?” observes the protagonist, in his attempt to write a book about the 30 years old murder case. Neat settings, soft background score, appealing interiors, vast and ostensible office rooms, men in impeccably dressed suits, gorgeous women… Silent settings, you will be at calm and ease, relaxed, movie runs like a beautiful landscape in a picturesque scenic location of a music video.

A 23 year old woman is lying by the bed, dead, her hands cuffed to the cot, blood stains on the linen and scratch marks of nails and teeth sunk on her pale listless body- and a slow dispassionate background score. Movie doesn’t evoke distress in its viewers, only saddens to the point that you sympathise with the protagonist.

Protagonist, who waits for his whole life for the woman he loves, ends up watching her getting married with a couple of kids; victim’s husband, who never marries again, for he loved his wife for life- both men find themselves in complicated, yet believable lives with strong scents of love pulling them away from the world, day after day.

The shot that begins with an aerial view of the city, closing in on a soccer field, into the audience, diving ever so slowly onto the protagonist’s back-incredible to watch. With murder plot at the helm, movie has room for love between the protagonist and his co worker. Their lives, intermingled with that of the murder are captured in the backdrop of flashbacks alternating with the present.

And, it’s clever. At the very end, there, unexpectedly, a little piece of friendship tale that finishes the giant supple jig saw puzzle.

Great Movie! Without ever saying a word of love, close-up shots of eyes are extensively battled with, to communicate love between protagonist and his coworker; the deceased and her husband; protagonist and his friend who gives his life away for his friend; and hatred between killer and the deceased’s husband; . The movie has everything in it-romance, murder, tranquillity, controlled intimidation, angst, madness. It is perfect. 10/10

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