NEWPORT BEACH FILM FESTIVAL 2025 REVIEW! The Secret Agent marks another triumph for writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau, Neighbouring Sounds). Set against the vivid backdrop of Brazil’s 1977 Carnival, the film blends political paranoia, personal sacrifice, and surreal imagery into a haunting portrait of one man’s fight to protect his family.
The Secret Agent opens with Marcelo (Wagner Moura), a widowed technology researcher, arriving in the city in desperate flight from unknown assailants. Once a respected scientist, Marcelo chose to stand up against Brazil’s military rule, risking prison and a certain death sentence. Marcelo’s only hope now is to retrieve his young son and flee the country. Marcelo slips into the kaleidoscopic chaos of Carnival week, where the joyous music and color barely disguise the city’s undercurrent of violence and political fear. Every street teems with both celebration and danger, reflecting a nation caught between repression and rebellion.
As Marcelo moves through Recife under a false identity, he soon realizes he is not alone as he encounters Elza (Maria Fernanda Cândido), a mysterious woman working within a clandestine resistance network. Elza shelters Marcelo in a safe house filled with strange visitors and odd oddities — radio tapes, flickering TVs, a two-headed cat — where the real and surreal coexist. Through Elza’s contacts, Marcelo learns that government operatives are closing in, led by mercenaries hired to eliminate him. Elza’s home has become a safe haven for those, including the wise and world-weary Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), who offer fleeting hope and companionship amid fear. The story also offers a second timeline to the present as Marcelo’s granddaughter decides to research Marcelo’s fate, listening to cassette recordings of Marcelo and his cohort discussing the danger of the situation.
“Every street teems with both celebration and danger, reflecting a nation caught between repression and rebellion.”
What I love about foreign films is that they are not hung up on the Hollywood studio conventions of storytelling. Hollywood would have destroyed The Secret Agent and stripped it of its charms. There are story elements you just would expect, such as a dead body lying in front of a petrol station with the authorities taking days to arrive, and yes, a two-headed cat.
The title is a most apt descriptor of Marcelo. He’s just an average guy who found himself in the middle of political intrigue and has now become a hunted man. He’s forced to stay hidden in plain sight to protect his son and his wife’s family. Half the film is about Marcelo staying hidden and preparing for his own great escape. The other half of the adventure comes with his newfound friends, Elza and Dona, in Elza’s halfway home for the politically oppressed.
As a film, director Kleber Mendonça Filho beautifully captures the small-town feel of 1977 Recife and the movie theater where a lot of the action takes place. Filho builds a lot of intensity for his thriller, keeping me on the edge of my seat, while also bringing across the camaraderie of friends who are clearly outgunned. I should end by saying Wagner Moura is brilliant as Marcelo. He’s a character that feels understated, but Moura brings a great deal of depth to him.
Filho masterfully turns a tale of survival into a deeply human story about love, loyalty, and the cost of integrity under tyranny. The Secret Agent will stay with you long after the credits, reminding us that courage often hides in the quiet acts of ordinary people forced to live extraordinary lives.
The Secret Agent screened at the 2025 Beyond Fest and the 2025 Newport Beach Film Festival.
"…will stay with you long after the credits..."
