The Secret Agent

Kleber Mendonça Filho proves once more that he is one of the most exciting filmmakers working today with The Secret Agent. Set in 1977, this playful political thriller intertwines several narrative lines to build a moving reflection on the personal and collective memories of Brazil’s bloody history.

Set during the Brazilian military dictatorship, The Secret Agent follows Armando (Wagner Moura), a widowed university professor fleeing political persecution. He is sheltered in Recife alongside other refugees – meanwhile, in the same city, his son is being raised by his father-in-law. Elza, the leader of an underground resistance movement, realises that Armando is more compromised than he knows and offers to assist him in fleeing the country.

Shot on Panavision, The Secret Agent takes some of Kleber Mendonça Filho’s trademarks as a filmmaker to a new level: intergenerational family portraits, a perfect mixture of pathos and humour, a committed analysis of Brazil’s past and present, a taste for genre hybridation, the keen observation and reconstruction of specific locations and milieus… 

This engrossing, playful and unconventional political thriller bears witness to a country entangled in violence, corruption and personal vendettas. Including temporal jumps, constant references to many kinds of historical archives, substantial winks to horror cinema and stellar performances from an unforgettable cast, The Secret Agent is also an affecting homage to those lives unjustly destroyed by dictatorship.

– Cristina Álvarez López

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