Set in 1977 during the height of Brazil’s long military dictatorship, Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political thriller, The Secret Agent, casts a never-better Wagner Moura as technology expert Armando.
He returns to his northeastern hometown of Recife after unsettling clash with a corrupt federal official.
The widowed Armando holes up in a leftist safe house, making plans to whisk his young son out of the country to safety as hitmen close in.
Absurdist humor, haunting reflections on history and memory, and strong emotional undercurrents define this masterwork.
A scene that hilariously evokes urban legend starts with capybaras grazing in a field at night and segues to a severed leg terrorizing a queer cruising ground.
It’s a deft metaphor contrasting the tranquility of nature with the chaos and persecution of regime rule.
