Mendon\u00e7a Filho parcels out information judiciously; we meet our fictional protagonist, Marcelo Alves (Wagner Moura), at that gas station in the film\u2019s first few minutes, but we don\u2019t learn what has caused him to be a target for both the military dictatorship and contact killers until much later. The director doesn\u2019t seem especially interested in making everything make sense \u2014 especially not quickly \u2014 but that doesn\u2019t mean that we don\u2019t buy into what he\u2019s put on screen. Much of the credit for that feeling of authenticity goes to Mendon\u00e7a Filho for his precision in creating his version of 1977 Brazil, but Moura is jaw-droppingly good as Marcelo, making him feel like a real person in every moment he\u2019s on screen. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Marcelo has returned to his hometown of Recife, where he hides away under an assumed name in a building owned by Dona Sebastiana (T\u00e2nia Maria), an old woman who welcomes a variety of political refugees. He reunites with his parents who are taking care of his young son after the death of Marcelo\u2019s wife and the boy\u2019s mother, and he hopes to escape the country with the boy soon, but a pair of father-son hired killers (Roney Villela and Gabriel Leone) are getting closer to finding him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Meanwhile, a dead shark is found with a human leg in its belly, but the leg\u2019s adventures don\u2019t end there. The Secret Agent <\/em>doesn\u2019t feel quite as unhinged as Bacurau<\/em> (what possibly could, really?), but there are some truly WTF moments that I won\u2019t spoil here and I cannot stop thinking about. These elements keep it from feeling like a standard political thriller or historical drama. We\u2019ve gotten plenty of good offerings in those categories, like the great paranoid thrillers of the \u201870s and last year\u2019s Oscar-winning foreign language feature I\u2019m Still Here<\/em><\/a> (which was also about the Brazilian military dictatorship). By contrast, this feels like something we haven\u2019t seen before, and that only could have come from the fucking bonkers brain of Mendon\u00e7a Filho.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even if you removed all of the oddities and kept The Secret Agent <\/em>grounded in realism, it would still be an impeccably crafted film. With split diopter shots, split screens, and wipe transitions appearing early on, Mendon\u00e7a Filho was clearly influenced by Brian De Palma. The approach feels appropriate to both the setting and the subject matter. However, he puts his own stamp on the visuals; the camera focuses on unexpected details and adds to the sense that we don\u2019t know where either the camera or the film is going. With so much mainstream cinema feeling like it\u2019s following a formula, it\u2019s remarkable to watch something that refuses to follow those conventions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yet The Secret Agent<\/em> isn\u2019t all style and no substance. As in Bacurau<\/em>, Filho is commenting on contemporary politics in Brazil, even though this film is largely set almost 50 years ago. The opening titles describe the time as \u201ca period of great mischief,\u201d and strife and corruption are rampant. Marcelo is mostly an average man doing what seems like a largely unremarkable thing that attracted the eyes of the wrong people. That\u2019s the danger of these types of governments: normal citizens become victims for simply living their lives. With The Secret Agent<\/em>, Mendon\u00e7a Filho is challenging us not to forget these people or the crimes committed against them by their governments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n “The Secret Agent” is out Wednesday <\/em>in select theaters<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/secret-agent2-1024x576.jpg\")
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