The Secret in Their Eyes (2009) — Argentina

Part crime thriller and part love story, The Secret in Their Eyes won the 2009 Academy Award for best foreign film. Set in 1999, Benjamín Espósito is a police detective who when he retires decides to write a novel about a crime from 1974 that still haunted him. The film thus proceeds by means of extended and repeated flashbacks. The first part of the film involves solving the rape-homicide. The case is complicated, and is used to make a commentary on the travesties of justice in the judicial system. As the film unfolds, we also learn of the love affair that never happened (but should have!) between Espósito and his beautiful boss Irene. The look was in their eyes all along. The plot involves several complicated twists and turns, which keeps this film moving even though it is almost two-and-a-half hours long. In Spanish with English subtitles.