TIFF 25: How The Secret Agent could Become The Best Political Thriller?

The Secret Agent is the new film by Kleber Mendoca Filho and starring Wagner Moura as Marcelo, a tech expert on the run. He arrives in Recife during carnival, hoping to reunite with his son, but only to realize the city is far from being safe.

With a script that constantly jumps between 1977 and 2025, offering a tense thriller that takes its time to build its story and taking these characters onto a journey with unknown destination. Told into 3 chapters, the film blends the past and the future with great concept, some guidance into get to know these characters and a director who approaches every frame and angle with care, passion and he shows how to portray the streets where he grew up in a beautiful manner. The final result is a combination of an inmersive experience. The very first minutes of the movie are intense and in that moment… the film hooks you in. This is a movie that portrays the social controversy of Brazil, the corruption and the impunity of all the crimes that were made but never punished.

Kleber directs this movie with a sense of nostalgia and you can see in every frame, angle and movement of the camera… that The Secret Agent is his best work to date. The film also features the powerful performance from Wagner Moura, marking his first speaking role in Portuguese since 2017, but the mannerisms, vulnerability and the ability to control and restrain his performance is absolutely wonderful. 

The film clocks in at 3 hours, and you compare that this picture could seem overwhelming like The Brutalist, but it justifies its existence and by the end, carrying a powerful message. I applaud the bold and risky direction that the director took in order to make this movie to happen and that‘s what we need from films most, nowdays. 

The film offers some themes like identity, destiny and the cycles of life. It‘s a film that demands your attention on how well it‘s made and how rewarding the overall theme of the movie is. The Secret Agent remind us the importance of preserving the pictures of our past to show them to future generations and stay connected to our roots and always listen to what your heart says, not what others tells you to do.

The production design is another triump, because it transports you to 1977 Brazil, in a way that it‘s kinda impossible. Since this movie was shot on location, recreating the time period of 1977 must have been a dangerous task, but they did it.

At the end of the day, The Secret Agent is an is an uncomfortable portrait of 1970s Brazil, told with patience and precision. Wagner Moura carries the weight of history in every scene, while the direction turns each shot into an act of resistance. It's cinema that demands time, but rewards with impact.