“The Secret Agent”: a colorful and fascinating exploration of the Brazilian dictatorship

The sun is bright, the colors bright, the music cheerful… However, a feeling of paranoia is directly established which will never leave the spectator, who, for a good third of the film, struggles to understand who this Marcelo is, who finds refuge in a small community run by a friendly old lady…

A thriller in Recife

After the dystopia (Aquarius in 2016) and the revisited western (Bacurau in 2019), Kleber Mendonça Filho is trying his hand at crime fiction this time. But the Brazilian is not leaving his beloved Nordeste, the region where he grew up in the 1970s before emigrating to London with his mother.

Stunningly staged and bathed in a captivating soundtrack, L’Agent Secret is a brilliant homage to the cinema of the 1970s, from which Mendonça Filho takes up the stylistic codes: slightly saturated image, split-screen credits, well-characterized characters: the mysterious hunk, the corrupt cops, the unscrupulous hitmen… While the filmmaker has no equal when it comes to recreating the atmosphere of Brazil at the time, in a series of scenes, each more atmospheric than the last.

Filiation and dictatorship

Despite the extreme stylization, the Brazilian signs a genre film of deep humanity, which questions filiation in fascist Brazil – a bit like Walter Salles did in I’m still here. Because Marcelo is not only back in Recife to reconnect with his young son, but also to try to find some information about his mother, a victim of the dictatorship…

Kleber Mendonça Filho: “Our idea was to make a film, not with reality, but with our concerns”

Having to face a totally corrupt society – against a backdrop of totalitarianism, the hunt for communists and a carnivorous liberalism – this everyday hero is played by a wonderful actor. Revealed in Too many Elite by José Padilha, seen again in Hollywood in Civil War by Alex Garland, Wagner Moura is magnificent. He brings great depth to this hunted man, in search of a better future for his son.

The Secret Agent/L’Agent Secret

Drama Screenplay and direction Kleber Mendonça Filho Photography Evgenia Alexandrova Musique Tomaz Alves Souza and Mateus Alves Montage Eduardo Serrano and Matheus Farias With Wagner Moura, Gabriel Leone, Maria Fernanda Candido, Udo Kier, Thomas de Aquino… Duration 2h40