Movie Review: The Secret Agent

4.5 stars out of 5

I saw this movie, I liked it very much, but I still I don’t know who the secret agent is. However, the star is Wagner Moura who I thought was great in Civil War and is excellent here too. It’s 1977 in Brazil, and his character Marcelo (or perhaps he is Armando) is a former professor who has become an enemy of the state during the real-life military dictatorship and political corruption. He flees to his hometown Recife where he’s sheltered by the kindly elder Dona Sebastiana (a superb Tânia Maria, oozing a good heart) in a small community of political refugees. Just as in One Battle After Another, I like the idea that there’s a secret underground network to help you out when the shit goes down. Marcelo’s young son, who he’s been unwillingly estranged from, is there being raised by his late wife’s parents, adding another emotional layer to the story.

There are some cool Lynchian touches here and also a prominent cinema, leading me to believe that writer/director Kleber Mendonça Filho (hey I got the thing under the c on my first try!) is a Filho-maker I need to check out more. He also does a skillful job slowly ratcheting up the tension as the situation becomes more dangerous for Marcelo/Armando. It’s a thinking person’s thriller.