The Secret Agent (2025)
Directed by: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Premise: Set in Brazil in 1977, Armando (Wagner Moura) is a political refugee who returns to Recife to see his son and prepare to flee the country. An industrialist with a vendetta against Armando hires assassins to kill him.
What Works: Throughout the 1970s, Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship. The Secret Agent plunges viewers into this historical moment. The filmmakers do an impressive job of recreating this era. The costumes and sets look organically of the time period. The film itself looks like a 1970s production. The graininess of the image, the rough style, and the sparse use of music recall New Hollywood era paranoia films such as The Conversation and The Parallax View. Set around Brazil’s annual Carnival festival, The Secret Agent has a humid atmosphere that is enhanced by the visual style which in turn lends itself to the arura of corruption that runs throughout the movie. There are some tense moments, especially in the final half hour. The film runs 161 minutes but it is deliberately paced, not rushed but moving steadily toward the climax, and The Secret Agent has strange tangents that give it color but also a bleak sense of humor. A tiger shark has recently been caught and the leg of one of the assassins’ victims was found in its stomach. At the same time, Jaws plays at the local cinema. The shark imagery becomes a metaphor of Armando protecting his son (Enzo Nunes) from the horrors of the world; his son is simultaneously afraid of sharks and wants to see the movie which Armando forbids. Details like this tie the various parts of the movie together. As a period piece, The Secret Agent has an interesting regard for history. The movie is partly about memory and our relationship to the past and our family linage.
What Doesn’t: Viewer who don’t know anything about Brazil’s history might find The Secret Agent challenging to follow. The film does not provide a lot of context, at least not the larger political background. There is enough information in The Secret Agent to understand the immediate action but the larger significance may be opaque to unfamiliar viewers. The story occasionally flashes forward to contemporary times in which a pair of history students research Armando’s case. The filmmakers don’t clue viewers into the time shift. This is consistent with the film’s approach, which makes history alive and relevant, but it can be confusing if viewers aren’t watching closely.
Bottom Line: The Secret Agent is more demanding than the average Hollywood picture and ultimately might be more affecting in an intellectual way than an emotional one. It’s a movie that benefits from examination and viewers who are willing to engage with The Secret Agent will find a lot to contemplate.
Episode: #1080 (December 28, 2025)