I'll take your recommendations, but of course I'm not talking about the story, but other movies you've seen that would make me feel the same way.
I can certainly give a list of films that I felt took me on similar emotional journeys, though of course I can't say they'd have that same effect on you.
So one thrilling scene earns the film the label of crowd pleaser? That would be selling the film short and ignoring what it's all about. I do understand why you would say that, but then you are not focusing on what the film has to say. To call it a crowd pleaser is to see it on a superficial level rather than to see it as intended.
I am not using crowd-pleaser as some sort of insult, I'm using it as a categorization. I think that the movie is good and, even more than that, it's a film that I imagine most people who watched it would at least like. Who
wouldn't love that stadium sequence?
But, and here's the part that is a bit of a criticism maybe, I do think that it neatly sidesteps the more complex nature of its own story and that the ending specifically is designed to soothe ruffled feathers.
WARNING: spoilers below
1. My making the main character a passive participant in the torture and suffering of the rapist/murderer. We get the vicarious satisfaction of revenge without dirtying the main character's hands.
2. By giving him a romantic reconciliation with the woman he left and the source of much of his regret
At the end of the day it designs a happy ending, and kind of exorcises any negative emotions the viewer might have at that point.
1. My making the main character a passive participant in the torture and suffering of the rapist/murderer. We get the vicarious satisfaction of revenge without dirtying the main character's hands.
2. By giving him a romantic reconciliation with the woman he left and the source of much of his regret
At the end of the day it designs a happy ending, and kind of exorcises any negative emotions the viewer might have at that point.
The general story is meant as an analogy to a time in Argentina. It is a part of the movie I don't have a great understanding of.
I don't think it's meant to be all that analogous, is it? There was tremendous, widespread corruption and certain people were able to get away with crimes while others had to play scary touch-and-go games with the government.
Again I feel like this is to miss the point of the entire movie. I liked Dogtooth and Mother, but they didn't make me think or feel anything. Perhaps I should try them again. They made you think but you don't label them as crowd pleasers. Does that mean you don't find them to be entertaining films? What if you could have some depth and be entertained, more ideal or less?
What I'm getting at is that all those people in the Academy who wouldn't even watch
Brokeback Mountain because "ew, gay people!", were probably fine with
The Secret in Their Eyes. There is a safety and familiarity to the narrative and the characters. The film centers "a man trying to do the right thing against overwhelming odds". Again, the film does this REALLY WELL. The themes of regret and revenge/justice are well developed. It does a good job of telling a small-scale story (the murder investigation) and a large-scale story (the political corruption in Argentina) at the same time.
My personal appreciation for different types of film is that I will always give the slight edge to something that makes me uncomfortable (
Dogtooth) or an unconventional character arc (
Mother) over something familiar but well done (
Secret in Their Eyes). (Also, I just checked and I gave all three of these films the same score, an 8/10, on IMDb).