Yes, the title of this Brazilian Best Picture hopeful is a misnomer; The Secret Agent is not a fast-paced thriller about a renegade spy, but instead a dense, layered drama about the wide-spread mundanity of corruption in 1970s Brazil. But don’t let that put you off watching one of the year’s most unique Oscar nominees. It won’t be for everyone, I am certain of that, and it took me a minute to even start to untangle the threads of the film’s intentionally messy, dissatisfying narrative (I am starting to sense this will be a hard sell). But once you can parse through to the heart of this film – the story of a man who simply wants to live with his son against a backdrop of everyday evil – it becomes a rewarding, mature experience filled with vibrant characters and a sensational portrait of 70s Recife.
It’s immediately tempting to compare The Secret Agent to last year’s International Feature Oscar winner I’m Still Here, another deeply compelling drama about 1970s Brazil under military dictatorship, and thematically there are certainly parallels. But where the true story of I’m Still Here delves directly into the heart of political opposition and violence, in The Secret Agent director Kleber Mendonça Filho crafts a low-key fictional story that shows how normalised corruption was, and how little it could take to find yourself as an enemy of the state. Wagner Moura, nominated for Best Actor, plays “Marcelo”, a widower and academic on the run who travels to the city of Recife, where he hides out in a refugee home run by Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), a dissident in her late 70s and everyone’s ideal nosey grandmother. We first meet Marcelo in his yellow VW Beetle, pulling up to a petrol station where a dead body has been lying in the sun for days. When two policemen pull up, they ignore the corpse and instead attempt to extort Marcelo, which feels pretty typical of the cops. It also acts as a perfect microcosm for the film’s treatment of a society where horror and tyranny is so ingrained that it barely raises an eyebrow – but the smell can’t be so easily scrubbed out.
This film’s version of that one Brendan Fraser still from The Whale cos I swear this is the only picture I had ever seen to prove The Secret Agent exists. Anyway, Wagner Moura hot.
Mendonça Filho builds up a layered story where every character, major or minor, feels completely real. In Recife, Marcelo’s Jaws-obsessed son Fernando is living with his father-in-law, Sr. Alexandre, a projectionist at the local cinema where men get blowjobs whilst watching famously horny film The Omen. Meanwhile, crooked police chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes) and his sons are attempting to cover up a murder after a severed leg is found in the mouth of a shark, creating a media frenzy (the clearly homophobic leg later goes on to beat up gay men at the park – I’m serious). Udo Keir (RIP) cameos as a Holocaust survivor whom Euclides mistakes for a nazi fugitive. A flashback cements Marcelo’s wife Fátima as a classic dead wife haunting the narrative, but also a fierce voice in her own right. And at the same time energy boss Ghirotti (Luciano Chirolli) sends two hitmen, father and stepson Augusto (Roney Villela) and Bobbi (the… ahem, visually appealing Gabriel Leone), to kill Marcelo. If this is starting to sound confusing, don’t worry – I’m pretty sure it’s meant to be. In the film’s nature, it is not immediately clear what purpose these storylines fulfil as they seem to end up left by the wayside. But as for painting a fully detailed picture of the setting, there is not one side character who doesn’t leave some kind of memorable impression, from the smallest role of the petrol station attendant, to the women who work with Marcelo at the Institute of Identification, where he searches for proof of his mother’s existence. Seeing the film, it’s no wonder it bagged an inaugural Best Casting Oscar nomination when it creates such a wide but distinct tapestry of lives, and honestly I think it would be an exceedingly deserving winner.
Moura’s performance at the heart of the film is, once again, markedly understated, which is certainly a skill in itself but I can see it may not resonate with everyone, especially in the face of more outwardly bombastic performances. But the award-worthy work really comes into focus in the final act, where a very intelligent casting decision allows Moura to convey so much of the film’s meaning in a short time. I wouldn’t bet money on Moura lifting the golden trophy – currently I think Timmy T is still first in line – but sometimes the nomination is as good as the award. And what of the film’s other prospects? In another year I would say it’s a shoe-in for Best International Feature, but unfortunately it’s up against a juggernaut in Sentimental Value, which I have no doubt will snatch the win. I’m glad this film has made it into the Best Picture lineup though, proving the Academy can nominate TWO international films and not explode (RIP to other deserving nominees that missed the ten, It Was Just an Accident, No Other Choice, etc. I’m sorry you died so F1 could live).
The actress on the left (Hermila Guedes) looks so much like Helen McCrory I had to remind myself she is sadly no longer with us.
The Secret Agent will not be for everyone. It will baffle. It will inherently disappoint. But I see this as an intentional choice from the director (whether you love or hate that is a different story). The title sets an expectation: Brazilian Bond, filled with car chases, suave spies and action galore. But the fact that the film does not deliver on these conjured ideas is not to its detriment. It might be one that grows on you as you pick apart its complex narrative, and I can guarantee, even if you see it and don’t understand what the hell is going on at first, it will stick with you. And just because this is more of a drama than a thriller, it doesn’t mean there is not a pervasive sense of dread, a deep tension running through every frame as the inevitability of violence grows ever closer. The ending might even make you angry, make you feel like you’ve been cheated of a satisfying conclusion. But isn’t that the case for many people investigating the horrors of the past? How many “unimportant” people’s lives have been lost to history, buried under a mountain of trauma that can never be fully sifted through? Should we move on with our lives and try to make something new? Or should we open old wounds and explore the ugly truth of the past, even when we know that we will never be able to reach a neat conclusion? And, most importantly, are we all ready for the Brazil-Norway war that is coming when Sentimental Value wins the Oscar over this film?
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Cast: Wagner Moura, Tânia Maria, Robério Diógenes, Maria Fernanda Cândido
Runtime: 161m
Certificate: 15
Country: Brazil
Images: CinemaScópio, MK Productions, One Two Films, Lemming Film, Arte France Cinéma
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