Why Critics and Audiences Are Applauding Brazil’s ‘The Secret Agent’

Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho has long been one of his country’s most distinctive cinematic voices. His latest work, “The Secret Agent,” arrives with the weight of history behind it and the urgency of the present running through it. Set in the 1970s, during Brazil’s military dictatorship, the film has garnered widespread acclaim from both critics and audiences—not despite its political themes, but because of how masterfully it weaves them into a gripping narrative.

A Man on the Run

The film follows Marcelo, portrayed with compelling intensity by Wagner Moura, an academic whose life unravels after he exposes corruption at the highest levels. When he discovers that a government minister is shutting down his university department to funnel research into a personally owned private company, Marcelo does what any principled person might: he speaks out.

The response is swift and terrifying. Marcelo becomes a marked man, forced to flee, leaving his young son with his late wife’s parents. He lands in a safe house in Recife, run by Dona Sebastiana—played with effervescent steeliness by Tania Maria—on behalf of a resistance group. There, he finds work in the government department responsible for issuing ID cards, a mundane setting that conceals extraordinary danger.

Here he encounters Euclides (Roberio Diogenes), a corrupt cop whose department uses carnival celebrations as cover for extrajudicial murders. The minister who ordered Marcelo’s destruction has hired hitmen. Time is running out. A fake passport offers hope of escape—if he can survive long enough to use it.

More Than Plot

To describe “The Secret Agent” solely by its plot is to miss its deeper achievements. Mendonça Filho has crafted a film that is vivid, darkly humorous, and deliberately paced. It trusts its audience. Scenes unfold with confidence, allowing viewers to immerse themselves in vibrant colors and an equally vibrant soundtrack while tension accumulates like pressure in a sealed chamber.

The director’s approach is subtle, sometimes oblique, but never confusing. He demonstrates faith that modern audiences can still follow stories that resist neat packaging and easy resolution. In an era of increasingly formulaic cinema, that faith feels almost radical.

Villains Rooted in Reality

While Mendonça Filho deserves the plaudits already coming his way—Oscar chatter is building—the cast matches his ambition at every turn. The villains are particularly noteworthy. It would have been simple to play them as pantomime monsters, cartoonishly evil. Instead, Diogenes and his fellow antagonists ground their characters in casual cruelty, the kind that emerges not from theatrical malice but from institutional rot. They are all the more sinister for their ordinariness.

A Timely Reminder

“The Secret Agent” is set five decades ago, but its resonance is unmistakably contemporary. Mendonça Filho loads the frame with reminders of what happens when political violence becomes normalized, when moral boundaries erode, when corruption infects the highest levels of power. One memorable fantastical scene depicts the moment when fake news metastasizes into mass hysteria—a sequence that lands with particular force in our current moment.

The film does not preach. It does not lecture. It simply shows, with confidence and craft, the consequences of a society losing its moral compass. That it does so while remaining deeply entertaining is a testament to Mendonça Filho’s skill and the cast’s commitment.

The Verdict

“The Secret Agent” is political thriller as art—ambitious, layered, beautifully realized. It has earned its early acclaim and seems destined for more. For audiences willing to invest in a story that demands attention rather than demanding less of it, the rewards are considerable.

In Recife, under a dictatorship, a man runs for his life. In theaters now, his story runs toward us. It is well worth catching.

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