In ‘The Secret Agent’, Brazil’s darkest years become its brightest cinematic moment

Brazilian political-crime thriller The Secret Agent is a visual feast. Set in the late 1970s, when the country was still under military dictatorship, it follows a professor (Wagner Moura) as he travels to Recife during Carnival to start over. The Secret Agent has been a runaway success in its home country and has performed well in box offices in countries such as Portugal and France. The film marks the return of Brazilian cinema to the Oscars, only one year after I’m Still Here won Best International Feature in 2025. The Secret Agent has four Oscar nominations and is up for two Baftas, just in time for its UK release on 20 February. The film’s director, Kleber Mendonça Filho, and its star, Wagner Moura, stopped by Midori House to discuss politics, shooting in Panavision and getting that “World Cup feeling”. 

This film has been a special project for you as you’ve wanted to make it for quite a long time. Is that right?
Kleber Mendonça Filho: It all began with the desire to develop a thriller set in the 1970s and I really wanted to shoot in widescreen Panavision – and to do it with Wagner as the main actor. I spent seven years trying to make my previous film, Pictures of Ghosts. In the process, I had been looking at old newspapers, photographs and films, and that made me reconnect with some childhood memories. Suddenly, I felt that I had the emotional structure to write The Secret Agent. And then the last thing that happened – because that’s how these things come together – was Bolsonaro. The Bolsonaro years were a bizarre mixture of [the] 21st-century far-right with this fetishistic desire to bring back the good old days of the military dictatorship. In many ways I was writing about the 1970s but living the complete madness of those years in the 21st century. A lot of the energy of The Secret Agent came from that crazy and just dreadful moment in contemporary Brazilian history. 

And Wagner, how does it feel to finally work with Kleber and to return to acting in Portuguese?
Wagner Moura: Can you imagine? It was the time of my life. I hadn’t worked in Portuguese for 12 years. I was directing Marighella and I did Narcos – and that took a long time. But things happen when they should happen. I’ve been trying to work with Kleber for a while, basically since I met him. And I think that this was the perfect project for us. It’s very political and we’re both political people. It’s as cinematic, Brazilian and northeastern as it can get. We’re both from the northeast of Brazil and share lots of cultural codes. 

‘The Secret Agent’ feels like a love letter to 1970s cinema but it’s also a portrayal of a difficult time in Brazil under military dictatorship. How do you think about fact versus fiction?
KMF: This film is not based on a true story, it’s all fiction. But the sense of time is quite truthful, I would say. And very honest. It comes from not only my own childhood memories but from many stories that were told to me by family members: my uncles, my parents. And I think that sense of truth is in the film. 

It’s also in the actors. They’re great actors but also incredibly truthful people and there’s a real sense of social, human truth in the film. I’m happy with that sense of truth, which you can pick up even if you’re not Brazilian.

‘The Secret Agent’ has had such success. Do you think this is a particularly interesting moment for Brazilian cinema? 
WM: Yes, it’s a great moment. You cannot disconnect it from the great democratic moment that Brazil is going through. I think that democracy in art, films and theatre walk together. We now live in a country in which the government believes in culture as a tool of development and a mirror for society. And then the world can see this country as well. I hope that we can keep believing in the importance of culture.

After all the nominations, are you getting that World Cup feeling?
WM: [Actor] Fernanda Torres asked us not to go into World Cup mode. And I was like, why not? I think it’s pretty cool. It’s impossible not to do it. One of the things that I loved about I’m Still Here last year was seeing all those Brazilians rooting for the film, those artists saying, ‘Oh my God, we see ourselves in them.’ I think that’s beautiful, especially as our country went through a period in which artists were labelled as enemies of the people. So yeah, I’m good with the World Cup thing. Are you, Kleber? 

KMF: Brazilians are super connected. They’re very aware of and sensitive to the way Brazil is seen abroad. I think having a film on the international stage during the awards season is a pretty big thing. It’s a cool energy. What happened last year with Fernanda was amazing. 

‘The Secret Agent’ is out now in the US, Brazil and Europe and will be released in UK cinemas on 20 February. You can listen to the interview with Mendonça Filho and Wagner on the latest edition of ‘The Monocle Weekly’.