As a avowed foreign film skeptic (Parasite wins BOTH best film and best foreign film–how is that fair exactly?; American filmmakers of color who have systemically been shut out for generations have to watch voters happily pile up awards for foreign copycats; and lastly, all that READING; still have a soft spot for Lunchbox [2013], Wild Tales, Girl Walks Home Alone at Night [2014], and The Untamed [2016] though; and I’m gonna shout out Australian indie film Girl Asleep [2015] every time), I am maybe not the target audience for The Secret Agent. I have mostly stayed away from the foreign film best picture nominees this year as I do every year but something about the buzz around this film, its cult status in Brazil and the trailer made it seem sprawling and punchy in a way that was mesmerizing.
It took me two days to watch this, which probably is not the ideal viewing experience, but clocking in at almost three hours, this movie could use a nap or two in between watches. Wager Moura is magnetic as Man on the Run in Brazil in the 1970s. The period gives it a glossy sheen that distances it from comparisons to rising autocracy in the present day, while also inviting comparisons to crony capitalism, police violence, and the small forms of resistance that young and old alike are able to conjure when pushed. The decision to place the story here allows for Armando (Moura) to fall into a crowd of unlikely resisters, old ladies who cut their teeth fighting the fascists in the last big war and young activists both professional and amateur alike. The story is told in acts that are bookended by a surprising time jump to the present, in which (spoilers) young journalism students are listening to found footage as the story unspools before them, not always in chronological order. At first this jump feels unnecessary but as the film progresses the story relies more and more heavily on the tension and humor that is created through the gaps in the historical record. But what really won me over about this movie, and made me excited to see more from director Kleber Mendonça Filho in the future are the flights of fancy and surrealism wrapped up like little presents in the acts all related in some way to a love letter to the movie Jaws which comes out that summer in São Paolo.
The Secret Agent is full of joy even as it tackles darkness and violence. The acting and writing are dripping with irony and the way that the story is structured is so artful and suspenseful. I can imagine coming back to this movie again and again with friends just to watch them discover it for the first time.
