[ SPOILERS AHEAD ].
Movie by Juan José Campanella
Cast : Ricardo Darin, Soledad Villamil, Pablo Rago, Guillermo Francella, Carla Quevedo.
[It is Monday morning 9:30 at Sun’s office in Bangalore. Karthick, Harish and Simbhu are already on their routine in office. They are busy checking emails and outlining the tasks for the day. Shekar is the last one to enter the cubicle.]
Shekar: Hey guys.. good morning.
Karthick: Morning Shekar.
Simbhu: Good morning appa.
Harish: Hey man. How was your weekend??
Shekar [Responding to Harish]: Good… I watched ‘El Secreto’ on your recommendation…. was completely blown away.
[Harish and Karthick stop working and begin to discuss as Shekar settles himself at the cubicle].
Karthick: I knew you would like it…
Shekar: Absolutely… it left such an impact that all those scenes are still running in my head and it has been a full one and half days.
Karthick: This is one movie that I will remember in my deathbed.
Simbhu : [Frustrated, interrupts everyone]: Guys… for god’s sake… it is Monday morning and you are already discussing movies. I am getting out of here. [Simbhu gets up and leaves the cubicle].
[Harish, Shekar and Karthick pause for a minute and once Simbhu leaves, resume their discussion]
Karthick: How was Soledad Villamil’s acting??
Shekar: Fantastic acting man… all the subtleties. She is so charming and it only adds to her presence. A lot is conveyed with eyes.
Harish: Don’t forget Darin’s acting abilities. It is easy to oversee his restrained performance. It is impossible not to feel for the guy.
Karthick: Yes, I would compare him with Morgan Freeman… tiny muscle movements in the face convey the necessary emotions.
Shekar: And Francella as Pablo Sandoval guys… I simply gave up. He is such a mousey character. Do you guys remember the scene where Esposito and Sandoval are chastised by the senior judge at the justice office?? He looks so innocent, as if he were a stranger to the whole episode. His puzzled expressions and subtle body movements make him very likable.
Karthick: Pablo Sandoval might look like a frog but he is really a charming prince!!
Harish: And Shekar, Pablo Rago…. he occupies the least screen time, but he makes a huge impact. Remember the scene in the railway station where Esposito spots Morales?? He says that line “I don’t know if it is a memory…. or a memory of a memory I am left with.” with such intensity in his eyes.
Shekar: It is Morales passionate love for Lilliana which makes Esposito persist and continue with the investigation. Do you guys remember the very next scene after Esposito meets Morales at the railway station??
Harish: Yes….that is a fantastic one. It is the one in the justice office where Esposito tries to explain to Irene that he has not seen so much love in anyone’s eyes. I loved it when she gets disappointed….the look in her eyes!!
Karthick: It was as if like Irene questioning Benjamin, while you can see the love in Morales eyes…can’t you see the same in my mine for you??
Harish: And the way she opens the door when he calls Pablo to discuss gives an indication how angry she is.
Shekar: Honest expressions and so true to their characters.
Karthick: The beauty is in the writing, Harish. See… I have made so many short films and I know how difficult creative writing is. If I had to write such dialogues, it will probably take me some twenty years. We spoke about acting till now. What did you make of the story??
Harish: The movie is about the suppressed love of a Justice Agent and also revolves around a murder mystery. It is based on a novel by Eduardo Sacheri where a retired Justice Agent, Benjamin Esposito, wants to write a book about an unsolved murder committed 30 years ago.
Karthick: As you say, there are two parallel stories. One is the investigation of a wife’s murder and the other is the investigator’s love story. Which one do you think is the crux of this movie??
Harish: A lot of people out there think that this is a crime drama as they think the investigation is the central plot. But I think it is the love story that is the crux.
Shekar: Well… I thought both the stories carried equal weight.. no??
Karthick: No, Shekar. Harish is right. It is the suppressed love story between Esposito and Irene that is the crux of ‘El Secreto’. The investigation of Liliana’s murder is just a background. In fact, if you notice, in one of the penultimate scenes, Esposito re-writes “fear” as “love”. That is a clue.
Harish: That is my interpretation as well.
Shekar: Oh….hmmm!!! Good observation. I definitely enjoyed the suppressed love and the way Darin and Villamil have emoted their scenes. The suppressed love has been expressed almost in entirety through their eyes. In fact, I realized that eyes were a crucial part of the story itself. It is Gomez’s eyes in Liliana’s albums that leads Esposito to suspect Gomez. And it is Gomez’s eyes that Irene catches before inciting and consequently incriminating him.
Harish: And it is Morales’ strong eyes that convinces Esposito to re-open the case a year later when the two meet at the railway station. Esposito is transfixed in that scene.
[Boss, the manager, walks into the cubicle.]
Boss: Hey guys…. how are you??
Karthick: Hi Boss… fine.
Boss: So..some serious discussion is going on. I am sure it is about some movie. What movie are you guys discussing about today??
Shekar: El Secreto de sus ojos.
Boss: What?? It is not English correct??
Shekar: No, Boss. It is an Argentine film… spanish.
Boss: Oh… Spanish?? But, how did you guys come to know about this movie??
Karthick: It won the Best Foreign Language Film at the Academy Awards this year.
Boss: Oh…I see. So, how is the movie??
Harish: Masterpiece… must watch. It will definitely feature in my “100 movies to watch before you die“.
Boss: Oh man. I will take the DVD from you sometime. Ok..you guys carry on… have to finish some work.
[Boss leaves the cubicle. Harish, Karthick and Shekar continue…]
Karthick: Actually…the history of Argentina and it’s politics stands as a strong back bone to the story. The absolute beauty is this movie shows how the characters each one of them is affected by the political reality that existed in the seventies.
Harish: And Gomez proves to be the most powerful amongst all of them.
Karthick: The Story is starts few years before the “Dirty war” in Argentina. Then the lead roles Benjamin, Pablo, Irene are victimized as the war sets in full flow. Simply put the government at that point is fighting against the communists.
Shekar: You guys are talking about the lift scene… I know. Gomez tacitly threatens Irene and Esposito using a gun in the lift.
Harish: So much silence, yet so much conveyed. Wonderful scene!!
Shekar: Hey… did you guys notice that long shot??
Harish: Yes…really amazing. It runs for a full five and half minutes. It starts off with a bird’s-eye view of a football stadium, later zooms into the crowd and narrows down on Esposito. A hand-held camera movement follows where Gomez is chased, run down by a footballer and nabbed by the police…. all this in a single shot. Amazing!!!
Karthick: Yes… a very nice scene. But I think it was not filmed as a single shot. They have filmed many shots and have neatly edited them to appear like a single shot. You can see the making of this scene here and here.
Harish: There were seven hardly discernible shots.
Shekar: Check this out… only about 200 extras were used, whereas we see an entire stadium cheering the players.
Karthick: This would have taken a lot of effort… no wonder it took them nine months of post production work for this single scene.
[Simbhu enters the cubicle as Harish, Shekar and Karthick are about to wind up their discussion.]
Harish: ‘El Secreto’ deserves the Academy Award. Wonderful dialogues and writing!!
Shekar: I would rate it better than ‘Avatar’ and ‘The Hurt Locker’.
Karthick: Yup. Unlike the other two, this is one movie I will like to watch 25 years from today.
Simbhu: [Interrupting] Guys… I have to finish a lot of work today. When will you guys stop this movie discussion??
Karthick: [Responding to Simbhu] Haven’t you heard the quote of the day??
Simbhu: No. What is that??
Karthick: A guy can change anything. His face, his home, his family, his girlfriend, his religion,his God. But there’s one thing he can’t change. He can’t change his passion. And ours is movies!!
[Simbhu sits down in his cube, closes his ears and resumes working.]
Cubicle talkies 