THE SECRET AGENT

Armando (Wagner Moura) is a former professor hiding out in the tropical city of Recife to escape a corrupt government official who has a vendetta against him. Living in an apartment building with other “refugees” who are also in hiding, he uses the alias name of Marcelo and intends to bide his time until he can obtain a fake passport and flee Brazil with his young son. When a hit is ordered against him, he realises he must move on sooner than expected. This film has fared well on the awards circuit, taking home Best Director and Best Actor honours for Moura at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and the acting from the entire cast is excellent … but it just didn’t land for me. The script is the weakest part. It’s riddled with plot holes and the story is difficult to follow due to the number of players involved. Several characters’ motivations are confusing and while it’s mostly set in the 1970’s, there’s a distracting subplot involving two university students listening to archival audio recordings in the present day. The ending abruptly jumps to Marcelo’s fate without explanation and the final scene featuring his adult son speaking with one of the university students feels disconnected, as decades of context has been skipped. Even the inclusion of the “hairy leg” urban legend (a metaphorical way for newspapers to report on real life police violence in the 70’s) turns the clever use of indirect messaging into something farcical. Filmed against the vibrant backdrop of Carnival, the the standard attire for men in this production is plenty of chest hair, high waisted trousers, large aviator sunglasses, and button-down shirts doing absolutely no buttoning.