The Secret Agent Trailer, Fun Facts & Review
The Secret Agent Synopsis:
Set in Brazil in 1977 during the military dictatorship. Marcelo (Wagner Moura), a former professor who is targeted for assassination after standing up to a corrupt official. Fleeing to Recife, he takes on an alias, seeks to reunite with his young son, and joins an underground resistance. As he desperately works to secure passports to escape, Marcelo finds himself hunted by killers and corrupt police, making his flight a tense, paranoid struggle for survival against the regime's pervasive evil.
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Release Date: In theaters November 26th, 2025
The Secret Agent Fun Facts:
Star Power:
Wagner Moura takes on the lead character, and he is well-known internationally for his Emmy-nominated performance as Pablo Escobar in the series Narcos on Netflix. This movie is his first project in Portuguese in nearly eight years.
Most Awarded Film:
Prior to its release in the United States, the film debuted globally at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, where it received the most awards of any film at the event. It won the Best Actor award for Wagner Moura and the Best Director award for Kleber Mendonça Filho, in addition to several other prestigious critics' awards.
Filmed in 1970s Style:
To capture the 1977 backdrop in Brazil, the film was shot using Panavision anamorphic lenses and vintage camera equipment to replicate the visual style and atmosphere of 1970s political thrillers.
Carnival Chaos:
A large part of the movie takes place during the lively and vibrant week of Carnival in Recife, Brazil, which introduces a sense of colorful and fleeting chaos against a backdrop of political unrest.
Home-Turf Hero:
The movie was shot entirely in the director's hometown of Recife, Pernambuco, Brazil, featuring historical structures and colonial bridges, which firmly anchors the story in the regional culture and architecture.
Multiple Timelines:
The story is intentionally broken up, featuring key events from 1977 alongside moments of flash-forwards to the present day, where young researchers are listening to and transcribing recordings from that era. This arrangement highlights how our views on history and memories can change over time.
The Secret Agent Review:
Director Kleber Mendonça Filho, who is recognized for his works Bacurau and Aquarius, is back with his biggest and most complex film yet: The Secret Agent. This is not your typical spy movie; instead, it is an enchanting drama filled with political themes that combines dark, stylish elements, a historical setting, and truly strange moments of magical realism, making it one of the most captivating movies of the year.
Set in Recife, Brazil, in 1977, when the country was ruled by an oppressive military dictatorship, the movie tells the story of Armando (played by Wagner Moura, who won the Best Actor award at Cannes for this role), a former university researcher fleeing from a powerful, corrupt authority figure. Using the name Marcelo, he comes to the city during Carnival, looking for safety and trying to connect with his young son, Fernando, who resides with his mother's parents.
Armando is taken in by a kind elderly woman, Dona Sebastiana, who operates an unofficial refuge for those fleeing political persecution. While he works on devising a plan to escape, he becomes the focus of corrupt local law enforcement and two professional hitmen sent to assassinate him.
Mendonça Filho's writing skillfully connects various, unrelated elements together to tell the full story: Armando’s quest to understand himself, driven by his urgent desire to uncover information about his deceased mother. The increasing corruption within the police force, fixated on hiding the finding of a human leg discovered inside a tiger shark. A modern story about a history student looking into the dictatorship period by examining old recordings, which ultimately creates a chilling backdrop for Armando's unfortunate destiny. Bizarre local legends, including a city tale about the "hairy leg" that frightens men who wander in a park after dark.
At its core, The Secret Agent is a powerful and intense film that explores the themes of erasure, memory, and widespread corruption within a system. The story jumps forward to the present day to show how real history gets lost and is then slowly pieced together. This storytelling choice can feel frustrating at times, but it is deeply meaningful in the end. The movie makes a strong point: under a dictatorship, a person's entire life—their job, their reputation, and even the circumstances of their death—can be easily erased and rewritten by those in power. Their existence is reduced to nothing more than a simple, unimportant note or a lie.
The Secret Agent is a carefully crafted, slow-moving film that pays off for those who are patient. The movie includes scenes like the very strange "hairy leg," which uses stop-motion animation. Some viewers may feel disconnected, but these strange scenes are actually a key part of the director's unique vision. They are used to mix pop culture, folklore, and the dark side of politics together. The Secret Agent stands out as an important film: it is visually impressive, filled with deep emotions, and strongly connected to current political issues that feel relevant today.