The Secret Agent
The Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura plays a former professor in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s Brazilian thriller of rare panache.
Wagner Moura
Image courtesy of Mubi.
by MANSEL STIMPSON
Anybody intent on studying great filmmaking would be well advised to look closely at the pre-credit sequence which begins this latest feature by Brazil’s Kleber Mendonça Filho. He is both the writer and director here and this opening scene is an object lesson in how to achieve perfection on every level. What we see is a quiet petrol stop where a driver, Marcelo, drives in ready to fill up and notices that there is a corpse in the forecourt with a newspaper covering the body save for the feet. If the rural landscape puts us in Brazil, the dead body is an immediate indication of the violence which is prevalent there. Furthermore, the fact that the attendant reveals that he had telephoned the police a few days earlier but without their appearing is indicative of how unreliable the law is (this is taking place in 1977). We recognise that this is an unexceptional day although by chance it finds two members of the federal motorway police turning up intent on checking Marcelo's car. Finding nothing to query, they seek a donation whereupon Marcelo explains that he has no money but, sensing danger, attempts to pacify them by offering them his cigarettes. To avoid any involvement, another car has simply chosen to pass by but Marcelo finds that he has made the right move and is allowed to drive off. At this point the title comes up and we move to the city of Recife where the film will proceed to unfold.
With deceptive ease and succinctness, Mendonça has immediately grasped our attention, made us feel an everyday reality that nevertheless contains the underlying sense of menace stemming from the presence of that corpse and has introduced us to the film’s leading man, the excellent Wagner Moura who plays Marcelo (he will also successfully take on another role too in the film's final stages). In addition to all that, we cannot but be impressed by Mendonça’s skilled direction, by the widescreen colour photography of Evgenia Alexandrova and by the way in which the film is edited. There is also another remarkable achievement to be noted which will emerge in due course: The Secret Agent lasts for all of 160 minutes but has no longueurs.
Mendonça was born in Recife and a number of his films are based there. They demonstrate a love for the city and a concern with Brazil's history past and present. The Secret Agent is accordingly deeply connected to what it was like to live in Brazil in the 1970s under a military dictatorship. The story is divided into three parts in the course of which we will discover that the man who calls himself Marcelo is actually Armando Solimões. Formerly involved in research at a university, he had run foul of a federal official, Ghirotti (Luciano Chirolli), and is now seeking to leave the country in company with his young son Fernando (Enzo Nunes). The latter has been looked after by Armando's father-in-law, Alexandre Nascimento (Carlos Francisco), following the death of Armando’s wife, Fátima (Alice Carvalho), who had been highly critical of Ghirotti. Consequently, Armando approaches Alexandre intent on reuniting with his son and obtaining fake passports for both of them so that they can depart together. He is aided in this because he has been involved in resistance to the regime and has contacts who can help – and help he does need in several respects including the fact that two hitmen (Roney Villela and Gabriel Leone) are after him. Indeed, he will soon have more than these two in pursuit, the main threat eventually comes from the menacing Vilmar (Kaiony Venâncio).
As though there were not enough characters already, Mendonça opts to jump forward in time now and again in order to introduce a present-day character, Flávia (Laura Lufési), who is a researcher going through old tapes of Armando and others. More oddly the film briefly changes tone to illustrate a tale being told after a human leg has been found in a shark's mouth. The shaggy dog story developed from that involves the leg becoming animated and attacking men in a cruising area and to put that into images rather than to leave the incident merely spoken about is a strange decision given the character of the rest of the film. But that hardly matters since it is little more than a passing moment and, indeed, there may well be those who feel that this is a trendy touch which adds a modern flavour to the film.
While Moura’s contribution is absolutely central, the other players are also notably good including Tânia Maria as an elderly contact who helps Armando and there is in addition a brief cameo by the late Udo Kier as a tailor. The figure of Alexandre Nascimento so well played by Carlos Francisco is especially pleasing and this role links with Mendonça's affection for the cinemas that existed in Recife since Alexandre projects films in one of them. The acclaim for The Secret Agent, while justified in so many ways, might suggest that Mendonça’s film is a masterpiece. However, given its setting, I do feel that for it to be an actual masterpiece it would need to be weightier than it is. It is certainly the case that it is concerned with real despotism and at one stage the film details how Armando is searching in an archive for evidence about his mother which would prove that she was one of those referred to as the disappeared. Indeed, although the tale is set in the past, it could even be argued that we are being encouraged to consider modern parallels. But, despite the deep seriousness of that, The Secret Agent functions mainly as a tense, effective thriller and the fact that it is highly entertaining on that level does somewhat undermine its standing as a work of social and political comment (2024’s I’m Still Here made by Walter Salles had a distinction in that respect which is lacking here). But perhaps that is to quibble since we should be thankful for a movie put together with all the skill and aplomb exhibited here.
Original title: O Agente Secreto.
Cast: Wagner Moura, Robério Diógenes, Carlos Francisco, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Hermila Guedes, Luciano Chirolli, Tânia Maria, Laura Lufési, Isabel Zuaa, Roney Villela, Gabriel Leone, Kaiony Venâncio, Thomás Aquino, Ítalo Martins, Igor de Araújo, Enzo Nunes, Alice Carvalho, Buda Lira, Robson Andrade, Udo Kier.
Dir Kleber Mendonça Filho, Pro Emilie Lesclaux, Screenplay Kleber Mendonça Filho, Ph Evgenia Alexandrova, Pro Des Thales Junqueira, Ed Eduardo Serrano and Matheus Farias, Music Tomaz Alves Souza and Mateus Alves, Costumes Rita Azevedo.
CinemaScópio Produções/MK Productions/Lemming Film/One Two Films/Arte France Cinéma-Mubi.
160 mins. Brazil/France/Netherlands/Germany. 2025. UK Rel: 20 February 2026. Cert. 15.
