The Secret Agent

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ALBERTO M Found the story confusing and vague Rated 3/5 Stars •  Rated 3 out of 5 stars 11/28/25 Full Review Camila C "Eu fiz três coisas na Itália, que eu não vou contar pra vocês, porque vou levar pro meu túmulo." Dona Sebastiana. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/30/25 Full Review Paulo C Kleber Mendonça Filho’s O Agente Secreto marks a new level of artistic maturity in the director’s ongoing project of filming Brazil’s contradictions with equal parts affection and fury. Set in 1977, during the waning years of the military dictatorship, the film avoids direct portrayals of repression and instead focuses on the horrors embedded in everyday life. Through the story of Marcelo — played with remarkable restraint by Wagner Moura — Mendonça builds a portrait of a country where indifference becomes a survival strategy and the private sphere absorbs the echoes of political violence. The film blends realism with a dreamlike sensibility, turning spaces and objects into vessels of memory, and expanding Marcelo’s personal journey into a collective one inhabited by women on the margins, migrants, and precarious workers. More essayistic than plot-driven, O Agente Secreto intertwines melancholy, irony, and moments of absurdity to expose how Brazil constantly changes its costumes while repeating its scripts. Mendonça’s sensorial cinema, especially his intricate use of sound, transforms the nation into a ghostly presence, reminding viewers that the psychological residues of the dictatorship linger in contemporary life. What ultimately anchors the film, however, is its ethical coherence and its tender portrayal of inheritance — not only political but emotional — embodied in the relationship between Marcelo and his son. This combination of rigor, imagination, and humanity explains why the film resonated so strongly at Cannes and now stands poised for broader international recognition: it offers no consolation, but it offers clarity, and in Brazil, clarity itself is an act of resistance. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/29/25 Full Review Victor Hugo A absolutely phenomenal. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/29/25 Full Review Flávio S Um filme repleto de pirraça, surrealismo e realidade! Kleber e produção captam a essência do que é ter uma vida secreta, reprimida e fugaz daqueles que tiveram suas vidas encerradas por meio da opressão e tirania. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/29/25 Full Review Jefferson P A slow-burn thriller that keeps the audience on edge. Just like Bacurau, Kleber throws Brazilian xenophobia—disguised as pride in one’s own roots—right in the audience’s face. A thriller worthy of Hollywood’s great directors. Wagner is spectacular and should be in the running for major awards. And every time Tânia Maria appears on screen, it’s impossible not to laugh. Despite the theme, which evokes the tension and fear of dictatorship and violence, the film contrasts that with the beauty of 1970s Recife. Now we can only hope Brazil shines once again during awards season. Rated 5/5 Stars •  Rated 5 out of 5 stars 11/29/25 Full Review Read all reviews

The Secret Agent

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