The Secret Agent
In 1977 Brazil, Marcel’s little yellow Volkswagen Beetle is running on empty. In the middle of seemingly nowhere, he spots a gas station (and a full-service gas station, given the time period) and decides to fill his tank. On the grounds of the station lay a dead body, covered in sheets of cardboard. Flies are swarming about, as though the body has been there several days. The station attendant explains to Marcel that he’s called the authorities, but they’re too busy policing the annual the pre-Lenten Carnival of Brazil festivities – a celebration which has already resulted in the deaths of over 90!
Brutal dictatorship
As Marcel is about to drive away, he is approached by two government agents who question him relentlessly about his purpose for being exactly where he is at that exact moment in time. The agents let him off (i.e. choose not to arrest him) only after securing a small donation to their version of the Police Fund. Yes, it’s a blatant bribe – one which would be considered illegal in the U.S. – but this is Brazil during the middle years of the brutal military dictatorship which ruled that country from the mid-1960s through the mid ‘80s. People knew to just play along. There was nothing they could do to change it.
Political thriller
And so begins Kleber Mendonca Filho’s new film “The Secret Agent,” a long and involving political thriller in which we follow Marcel’s return to his hometown of Recife. At the outset, we know no more about Marcel than what I just described. His purpose and backstory will be revealed slowly. Layer by layer is peeled back in Filho’s complex original screenplay. In this respect, “The Secret Agent” is somewhat reminiscent of Wim Wenders’ 1984 masterpiece “Paris, Texas,” in that we only truly understand the story when the final credits roll. Unlike “Paris, Texas,” “The Secret Agent” moves along at a rapid pace, practically necessitating multiple viewings.
The plot thickensw
Marcel (played by veteran Brazilian actor Wagner Moura) soon arrives at a safe house (for political refugees, we later learn) overseen by the raspy-voiced chain-smoking Dona Sebastiana (Tania Maria), a beloved grandmotherly figure who endears herself to, and watches over, all under her care. Marcel’s young son Fernando lives in Recife with his maternal grandparents. Fernando’s mother doesn’t remember his mother, who died when he was a baby. But he cherishes every moment he spends with his dad, and wonders why these moments are so few and far between.
We do too. Until we learn that two hit men (in cahoots with the local chief of police) are out to kill Marcel – whose real name is apparently Armando. What is going on here? What has Marcel done? “The Secret Agent” is one very intricate piece of filmmaking. Every character and every scene has something to do with Marcel’s fate.
Even down to a concurrent local news story about a human leg found inside a beached shark. The police chief’s sons apprehend the leg from the lab assigned to examine the somewhat miraculous finding, only to callously toss it into the ocean in the dark of night. Did the authorities concoct the leg-in-shark story to divert attention away from the political corruption rampant at the festival?
Bizarre sequence
Then, in a sequence so bizarre it could have come from a Luis Bunuel film, the leg reanimates one night, emerges from the ocean, and attacks a gay couple trysting in the local park. What does this have to do with anything? Is it Marcel’s dream? It could be. Marcel experiences recurring nightmares about the dead body at the gas station, as well as the abandoned leg. He also dreams about his son growing up without him.
Harrowing escape
Marcel takes a job at the local department of archives and records, where he searches for any evidence of his late mother, who died when he was young – a plot parallel he shares with Fernando. The hit men happen to arrive one workday, leading to a harrowing escape scene which rivals anything Hollywood has put forth in any recent shoot-‘em-up flick. For a Brazilian film, “The Secret Agent” has a very American feel.
Coming to grips with past
And isn’t it ironic that “The Secret Agent” is the second Brazilian film in the past year to deal with the horror of the military dictatorship (or the Fifth Brazilian Republic)? Last winter’s “I’m Still Here” was the other. “I’m Still Here” has a more linear plot, and is perhaps therefore the better of the two films. But that’s not to say that “The Secret Agent” isn’t completely compelling. It took a while for American filmmakers to come to grips with the abhorrence of the Vietnam War. “Platoon” and “Full Metal Jacket” didn’t hit until the war had been over for more than a decade. It’s apparently taken Brazil four decades to come to grips with its own tragedy.
Andy Ray‘s reviews also appear on https://townepost.com/tag/film-reviews/