The Secret Agent: The known brilliance of the Kléber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Moura duo
What happens when you join one of a country’s best actors with one of the best directors? You get a widowed professor in search for records of his deceased mother; you get a child obsessed with watching the recently released Jaws; you get a severed leg inside a real-life shark which serves as an outlet for media to report on the violence of a corrupt dictatorship; you get corrupt politicians trying to kill a researcher, you get The Secret Agent.
Like many other films by Kléber Mendonça Filho, cinema takes a central meta role in The Secret Agent. It can be argued that his whole filmography serves as a love letter to the Seventh Art, and what a homage it is! Whilst the tagline of the film describes it as a neo-noir historical political thriller, this doesn’t even cover the surface of what the film accomplishes. In the 1970’s Brazil, amidst the military dictatorship (yes, it is the same time period as last year’s great film, I’m Still Here) former professor Armando, returns to his hometown of Recife as a political dissident, whilst trying to protect his son Fernando. In a non-causal structure that resembles the complexities of daily life, The Secret Agent navigates between different storylines whilst addressing questions of oppression, parenthood, masculinity, funding within academic research, oppression and, most importantly, survival.
Being the most awarded film at the Cannes Film Festival 2026, there is so many great aspects to dwell on in this film... However, what might bring it to a whole new level, is the truly astonishing performance by Wagner Moura. Moura is known internationally for his work in the TV shows Narcos and Narcos Mexico, or the films Civil War, Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, among others. However, what sets his performance as Armando apart is language. In a recent interview, Moura stated that to act in Portuguese is completely different than to act in English, because although he understands English, the words in Portuguese, FOR HIM, “have memory”. Memory of all the times he used them before, but also, I add, memories of the first-hand experience of living in the oppressive dictatorship in which the film is set.
In the period of political instability in which we live in today, The Secret Agent serves as a lighthouse for our collective memory – reminding us of what we went through in the past, and which shores we might want to avoid running aground. This week, the Dukes will be screening this modern masterpiece of Brazilian cinema, and I couldn’t be more excited to rewatch it! Hopefully I will get to see you there.
Written by: João Eduardo Lima Belchior
