Argentina's 'The Secret in Their Eyes' wins Best Foreign Film Oscar

 Argentina's The Secret in Their Eyes won the best foreign-language film Oscar on Sunday, the second Academy Award for the South American country.                                          

The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos) is a drama about a retired prosecutor haunted by a 25-year-old rape and murder case who tries to find the culprit.                                           

Argentine director Juan Jose Campanella accepted the award for the film that beat out the category's front-runners, Germany's black and white entry The White Ribbon, as well as France''s gritty prison drama "Un Prophete" ("A Prophet").                                           

The Secret in Their Eyes won best Spanish language foreign film at Spain's Goya Awards this year, and took a number of awards at the Havana Film Festival last year.                                           

Hollywood trade paper Variety called the film, "a deeply rewarding throwback to the unself-conscious days when cinema still strove to be magical."                                           

Argentina has had six foreign-language film nominations and last won an Academy Award with its 1985 movie The Official Story.

Other films nominated this year in the category included Peru's mournful entry The Milk of Sorrow and Israel's Ajami, which explores divergent views among an urban neighbourhood's Muslims, Christians and Jews.