Written and directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent (O Agente Secreto) is set in Recife in the middle of the rule of a harsh military dictatorship. It stars Wagner Moura as Marcelo, a.k.a. Armando. It is 1977. Eventually we learn that Marcelo is a widower with a son, and that he is a university research scientist.
The Secret Agent has a great opening and a great ending. The two and a half hours in between are exciting, but the film has a major flaw. There are so many sub-plots, most of them superfluous to the main plot, that it is confusing. When I saw the film at a screening, I thought it was just me not being sharp enough to follow. But, unprompted, all the people around me told me they found it so confusing that they even tuned out.
At the beginning, Marcelo arrives at a gas station where a rotting dead body is covered by a piece of cardboard. Apparently the dead man was shot to death while trying to rob the place. The police arrive, but they have no interest in the dead body. Instead they interrogate Marcelo. This is our first sign that Marcelo is considered potentially dangerous by the authorities…and others.
Marcelo is protected by a network of leftist anti-government dissidents. One of them, Elza (Maria Fernanda Cândido), gives him an alias and finds him a job working in the city’s identification office, where he is able to search for information about his late mother.
Hitmen arrive to take out Marcelo. Their search for him is tense and engaging. But, alas, Mendonça Filho’s cutesy touches interfere and become exhausting. At least, as I said, there is a satisfying ending.
