remember what international critics said about ‘The Secret Agent’

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The British “The Guardian”, which gave the film the maximum rating of five stars, classified it as “a brilliant Brazilian drama about an academic on the run in the 1970s, marked by murders”. “Kleber Mendonça Filho’s study of a man who tries to escape political corruption is an extraordinary and almost novelistic analysis of corruption at all levels”, highlights the newspaper, which considers the film “more ambitious, complex and enigmatic” than “I’m still here”, by Walter Salles (which won the Oscar for best international film this year).

For “Variety”, the film is a “fantastic thriller” and a “dazzling period drama”. The magazine highlights the work of Mendonça Filho, who makes a “robust sensorial and mnemonic immersion in the images, sounds and suffocating climate — both political and meteorological” in Recife in 1977.

The American website “Collider” is emphatic: “This captivating and intense historical thriller It’s one of the best films of the year“. For the website, the film “represents an impressive advance in Mendonça Filho’s career as a director”, who is dedicated to “unveiling the story in a way that makes it strange, fun and impactful”.

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“The Hollywood Reporter” highlights the work of Wagner Moura, who in recent years has dedicated himself to working in Hollywood (such as in the film “Civil War” and the series “Iluminadas” and “Drug Thief”). “Marcelo is played with a deep gaze and a cloak of melancholy and sorrow by Wagner Moura, in a stellar return to Brazilian cinema after several years of absence. He was always a good actor, but Mendonça Filho transforms him into a movie star”, says the magazine.

For “BBC”, which recalls the sensitive content of “I’m still here”, “Kleber Mendonça Filho’s stylish and vibrant political thriller makes up for the lack of subtlety with electrifying action”. Further on, the review (which gives the film four out of five stars) says: “Filho and his cast have a knack for creating characters that are either movingly honorable or grotesquely evil. The police chief falls into the latter category. When he reads a newspaper headline reporting that 91 people died during Carnival, he happily bets that the total will soon reach three digits.”