It's a rare kind of film, coming out of Hollywood, and that too with three of the biggest names in the industry. What makes it rare is the abject absence of dramatics, and the supremely taut drama that holds it together.
I knew the general plot of the film before I sat down to watch it, so I was prepared to switch it off at any moment, thinking "I know what happens now". But no, I never quite knew what happens now. Not even till the very last moment of the film, when the screen went blank. And that, too, is a rarity.
Julia Roberts continues with what she started in August: Osage County--looking her non-glamorous best, and finally portraying characters you don't want to fall in love with. Nicole Kidman has been doing this for a little longer, although looking good remains part of the job in this film. And there is Chiwetel Ejiofor. I haven't, honestly, seen much of his films, so I am not sure if this is his usual self on screen, or an exception in any way. Highly watchable, either way.
The film is, broadly, a revenge drama.It is a remake of an earlier Argentine film that won an Oscar in the Best Foreign Film category, and most of those who have watched both believe this is a rather poor remake. Which might be the case.
But regardless of how good or bad the film is, what struck me was what it is really about. It is about revenge, yes; it is about a grieving mother, yes; it is about unrequited love, yes; it's about the politics of police investigations, yes. But what it really is about, is friendship. And, somehow, no one who has written about the film seems to notice it. It is really the friendship between Jess and Ray, that is so rare in films, perhaps even literature. Ray and Jess have not been in touch for 13 years; and yet, Jess never quite left Ray's life. She consumed it, in fact.
There have been depictions of friendships on screen, of course: There is the much cliched Jai and Veeru of Sholay, there is Thelma and Louise, there is Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and more. But same-gendered friendships are more common, than opposite-gendered ones. Because, somehow, it is very difficult to perhaps imagine--for the writers as well as the audience--a straight man and a straight woman being friends. There is, of course, A Long Kiss Goodnight (one of my all-time favourites). But Sam and Mitch were also partners in crime, and crime-fighting.
Friendships are perhaps the most underrated and over-abused relationships in life. Why? I don't know. Perhaps because we are made to believe, from a very young age, that there are other relationships that are more important. Important because they are perhaps more "useful"--friends remain so as long as they serve a purpose; when there is no purpose, there is no need for that relationship any longer.
This has happened so often in my life, that it never fails to make me smile. It always amuses me that wee bit to see yet another of these 'friends' fall from grace, show themselves up for what they really are, and bite the dust. And it always makes me happy about the few in my life who have never left my side, nor I theirs.
That's what made Secret in Their Eyes so good to watch. To know that there are some who will never quite leave.
