Knowing the praise and awards recognition it received throughout the past year or so, I went into The Secret Agent with a few expectations. I'm pleased to say that it still managed to surprise and impress me, and there may be quite a bit more to it than you've already heard.
It's 1977, Brazil. Wagner Moura plays a man forced to change his identity and keep himself relatively hidden away. He was once a professor, but has found himself caught up in something that puts him seriously at odds with people who have power, money, and the means to dispose of anyone resisting them. That's really all you need to know about this.
Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, who always impresses me with his features while never really doing as well in his short films, The Secret Agent is a masterful look at the ingenuity and connections of people doing their absolute best to survive, and fight back against, any dangerous regime that makes use of co-opted military and corrupt police forces to persecute those who find themselves marked as an enemy simply because of their opposing ideas. It has a gorgeous texture throughout that keeps viewers very much grounded in the time and place, and makes great use of Moura in a role that could very convincingly be chosen as his best yet (from his movie roles anyway).
Moura is impossible not to root for, helped by the fact that his character seems intent on trying to do the right thing without endangering too many others around him. He's cautious, but ultimately tries to live a normal life in extraordinary circumstances. Luciano Chirolli is very believable as one of many bad men who isn't used to things not going his way, Robério Diógenes is the kind of corrupt authority figure who believes he is a friend to many, and others trying to maintain a strong resistance are played by Tânia Maria, Maria Fernanda Cândido, and Hermila Guedes.
The 161-minute runtime may put off some viewers, but it never once felt as if it dragged. This is a film that carefully guides viewers into territory that becomes increasingly dark and dangerous, allowing them to acclimatise to the way life is lived by those onscreen, and then keeps offering small slices of hope even as things become more dangerous.
The structure shows the importance of keeping history known, and how we have to rely on the people who work hard to connect all of the dots and dive deeper into family histories and personal stories that intersect with crucial moments of political strife, to put it midly. It's a look at state-sanctioned violence that inevitably leaves scars across at least one entire generation, but it's equally a look at the light sometimes so hard to make out when it's at the end of such a long tunnel. And it has moments involving a dismembered leg that will have some scratching their heads, but it all makes complete sense if you know about the time period, or if you do a bit of research once the film is over. I did the latter, and am glad that I did.
I might not think to rewatch this often, especially considering the extended runtime, but if I ever do . . . I'll enjoy it just as much, inspecting every sequence for more details and nuances that help to make the whole thing feel absolutely authentic without ever dulling the brilliantly cinematic storytelling on display.
9/10
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