The official release of The Secret Agent here in Australia is well timed.  A week ago, it won the Golden Globe Award for best foreign language film and star Wagner Moura took home the statuette for best actor in a drama.  The Academy Award nominations are unveiled later this week, and both are a strong chance to earn a nod in their respective categories.  It continues a nice run for Brazilian cinema given they won an Oscar last year for the excellent I’m Still Here.

There’s a similarity here given both movies explore the same, chequered period in the country’s history.  I’m Still Here was largely set in the early 1970s while The Secret Agent takes place in 1977.  The opening scene does a stellar job in encapsulating the corrupt era.  Our protagonist, Armando (Moura), pulls over at a small petrol station to refuel while driving to the Brazilian city of Recife.  A dead body lies just a few metres from petrol pump – it’s been there for several days!  Two cops show up but they have zero interest in the corpse.  They’re just after small bribes and so they shake Armando down after a quick car search and let him drive off.

The film’s title may have you thinking this is a slick international spy film, but The Secret Agent is more of a slow-burn drama that’s about people instead of Hollywood-style action and thrills.  We learn Armando is just an ordinary guy who, in rightfully standing is ground in an academic-related pursuit, has run afoul of a powerful, wealthy man.  Two hitmen have been hired to kill Armando and until he can organise fake passports to flee with his young son, he’s to lay low with other persecuted folk in Recife.

The closing credits provide a beautiful reminder of just how many distinctive characters appear in the movie.  It’s hard to pick a favourite but 78-year-old Tânia Maria is wonderfully memorable as Dona Sebastiana, a chain-smoking, motherly figure with a great sense of humour.  It’s stunning to learn this is her first major role, and she was only discovered by director Kleber Mendonça Filho when using her as an extra in his 2019 release, Bacurau.  The blend of professional and non-professional actors within the film creates a credible world full of interesting people – both good and bad.

I need to give this a second look to full grasp its eccentricities.  An interlude involving a “hairy leg” left me scratching my head.  I liked a current day narrative about two young women listening to old cassette tapes but wasn’t fully sold on how that plot point was resolved.  My thumbs are still up though.  The Secret Agent pulls you into its world and, in addition to reminding the world about this period of history, makes you care about the fate of its inhabitants.