Cannes Film Fest 2025: Best Films
A neo-noir historical-political thriller, The Secret Agent, written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, was one of the highlights of the 2025 Cannes Film Fest, where it premiered in the Main Competition.
Grade: A- (**** out of *****)
The tale follows Armando (Wagner Moura), a former teacher caught in the political turmoil of the final years of the Brazilian military dictatorship, as he attempts to flee persecution and resist the authoritarian regime.
Narrative Structure: Past and Present
In 1977, during the political turmoil of the Brazilian military dictatorship, former teacher Armando arrives in Recife during the carnival holiday. Initially, he sheltered by Dona Sebastiana, alongside other political refugees, Claudia, Haroldo and Angolan Civil War immigrant Thereza Vitória.
Nearby, since the passing of his wife Fátima, Armando’s son Fernando is raised by his father-in-law Sr. Alexandre, a projectionist at Cinema São Luiz.
Meanwhile, corrupt chief of police Euclides and his sons Sergio and Arlindo are called during the holiday after a human leg is found in a captured tiger shark.
Armando is located at the city’s social registration archive under the alias of Marcelo, and is welcomed by Euclides, who offers him protection. But Euclides’ arrogance annoys Armando–he harasses Hans, a Jewish Holocaust survivor mistaken to be a Nazi fugitive.
In São Paulo, hitmen Bobbi and Augusto are hired by the former Eletrobras president to kill Armando, driven by political and personal vendetta.
Things change when the human leg in the Capibaribe River suddenly revives and attacks gay men cruising in a public park. The story, a newspaper cover-up for the political corruption and violence during the carnival week, creates public frenzy.
Informed of the imminent danger, Armando is instructed to flee the country. He bids farewell to Dona Sebastiana and other refugees, after relentlessly searching for documents of his late mother “India,” who he barely remembers.
The story then jumps to the present day, when history student Flavia researches Elza’s resistance network through audio recordings and newspaper archives, learning that Armando was assassinated. Traveling to Recife, Flavia meets with Fernando, now middle-aged doctor. Discussing Armando’s political past and murder, Fernando lacks any memory of his father or his own childhood in 1977.
The film marks Wagner Moura’s first Portuguese language production in eight years. German actor Udo Kier also appears in the film, marking his second collaboration with Mendonça Filho, after the 2019 Bacurau.
The film marks Russian-French cinematographer Evgenia Alexandrova’s first collaboration with the filmmaker, who shot the film with Panavision anamorphic lenses, aiming to replicate the visual style of 1970s movies.
Always compelling, The Secret Agent is a thematically dense and visually arresting political thriller with a searing social commentary that is as relevant today as it was decades ago.
End Note:
Greeted with widespread acclaim, The Secret Agent was the festival’s most awarded film, winning the Best Actor award for the well desrving Wagner Moura (the first Brazilian actor to win it) and the Best Director prize for Mendonça Filho (the second Brazilian filmmaker to win it after Glauber Rocha in 1969 for Antonio Das Mortes).
Oscar Controversy
Mendonça Filho was snubbed by the Brazilian submission commission for the Best International Feature Film, for two critically acclaimed films, Aquarius in 2016, and Bacurau in 2019. In 2025, when another fim, Manas, was selected as the country’s Oscar entry for political reasons, it created a public uproar. Following the outcry from critics and the industry, which included a video by Fernanda Torres (Best Actress Oscar nominee for “I’m Still Here”), The Secret Agent was ultimately chosen as the country official submission.
Not to be Missed
The estimable Neon acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film, which will be released in theaters on November 26.
Cast
Wagner Moura as Armando / Marcelo Alves / Adult Fernando
Carlos Francisco as Sr. Alexandre
Tânia Maria as Dona Sebastiana
Robério Diógenes as Euclides
Maria Fernanda Cândido as Elza
Gabriel Leone as Bobbi
Roney Villela as Augusto
Alice Carvalho as Fátima
Hermila Guedes as Claudia
Isabél Zuaa as Thereza Vitória
Laura Lufési as Flavia
Thomás Aquino as Valdemar
Italo Martins as Arlindo
Igor de Araújo as Sergio
Kaiony Venâncio as Vilmar
Udo Kier as Han
