Movie Review: The Secrets We Keep. RIVETING & ENGROSSING!

The Secrets That We Keep (Released in Theatres)
Set in America 15 years after World War II, the film revolves around the dark past of Maja (Noomi Rapace), a Romanian who now lives in the US with her physician-husband Lewis (Chris Messina). Maja and Lewis meet in Europe while he serves with the medical corps in the war. The happily married couple has a young son Patrick (Jackson Vincent), and life is generally quite good for the family, till fate brings about a drastic change in their lives when while playing with Patrick at the park one day, Maja hears a man whistling and recognizes the tune from her time during the war. Jyothi Venkatesh

A Nazi officer who had not only raped her but also killed her sister

   It strikes Maja who believes this man is none other than Thomas (Joel Kinnaman), a Nazi officer who had not only raped her but also killed her sister, who was her only soul mate. You are in for a shock when Maja’s pleasant demeanor starts to fade away as she kidnaps Thomas and holds him hostage in her basement. Her avowed mission is just to get from Thomas a brutally honest confession of his inhuman crime during the war.

In what may be the movie's low points (or a marital spat for the ages)

Chris Messina

Her devoted husband, Lewis (Chris Messina) becomes Maja's reluctant co-conspirator. Worried calls to a psychiatrist notwithstanding, he's on board, if only to protect his spouse and their comfortable family life. In what may be the movie's low points (or a marital spat for the ages), Lewis comes home from work to find that Maja has been tormenting a man in the suburban basement of her tiny apartment.

As far as performances go, the best comes from Noomi Rapace as Maja, who with effortless ease turns from a loving wife and doting mother to a vicious, furious victim hell-bent on vengeance. Noomi Rapace keeps you invested whenever she appears on the scene and displays in ample measure her survivor’s guilt as well. Chris Messina also stands out as her helpless husband Lewis, trying to instill some morality in his own way to the entire situation. Messina scores well along with Rapace, and their scenes ooze more than the right amount of adrenaline and chemistry to ramp up the emotional factor. The only disappointing factor is none other than Joel Kinnaman who seems to be too subdued as Thomas.

Hollywood vendetta film being told from the point of view of the female protagonist

To sum up, it is a film worth watching on the big screen for the wonderful performances from almost each and every actor in the cast, the deft direction by Yuvar Adler and the way he keeps us on the edge of the seat with what will unfold next. Though at the outset, the film does seem to be like any other Hollywood vendetta film being told from the point of view of the female protagonist, what makes you feel that it is riveting and engrossing is the fact that the performances and premise make for a reasonably entertaining watch. And that is not something that we can tell about any film these days in general.

Producers-Lorenzo Di Bonaventura, Erik Howsam, Adam Riback, Greg Shapiro, Stuart Ford
Director-Yuval Adler
Star Cast-Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Chris Messina, David Maldonado, Ed Amatrodo, Jackson Vincent and Amy Seimetz
Genre- Drama
Rating- ***