Quirky ‘Secret Agent’ is excellent political satire
One of the most buzzed-about flicks on this year’s festival circuit has been Kleber Mendonça Filho’s political house of mirrors, “The Secret Agent.” And I can confirm that the hype is more than justified, lethal Hairy Leg and all.
Set in 1977, at the height of Brazil’s violent military dictatorship led by Gen. Ernesto Geisel, it stars the charismatic Wagner Moura as Armando, a recently widowed scientist on the lam from government assassins. He’s returned to his hometown of Recife to reunite with his young son, Fernando (Enzo Nunes), while awaiting the forged documents they need to flee the country. That’s assuming, of course, that Armando can live that long.
There’s more than a hint of Tarantino at play in Mendonça Filho’s intricately plotted fever dream in which stylishness and elements of pop culture – it’s the era of “Jaws” and disco – inform nearly every scene. There’s also a fair amount of suspense, as Armando is forced to rely on his wits to escape repeated scrapes while under assault by a corrupt police chief and his assorted goons. And it would not be a Mendonça Filho film without a dash of the surreal. In this instance, a dismembered leg embarking on a killing spree. More on that later.
If you’ve seen the writer-director’s marvelously whacked-out neo-Western, “Bacurau,” you’ll have an idea of the sort of chaotic madness you’re in for, proving quirkiness does have a place in political thrillers. And “The Secret Agent” is a thrill-a-minute beginning with a nail-biting opening in which Armando pulls into a middle-of-nowhere filling station to refuel his lemon-yellow VW Beetle.
Just beyond the pumps, he spots a rotting corpse in repose beneath a large piece of cardboard. The attendant nonchalantly informs him that the departed was the victim of a failed robbery attempt and that the cops are too busy with Carnival to have time to retrieve the body. Almost before he can finish the sentence, a highway patrol car pulls up, causing Armando to break into a cold sweat. More so when he learns the policemen couldn’t care less about the dead guy. They are pursuing bigger fish.
The tension Mendonça Filho builds is almost unbearable, as the cops interrogate Armando, traveling under the alias of Marcelo. They are highly suspicious, but opt to let him go, but not before requesting a cash “donation.” It won’t be the last time Mendonça Filho takes a swipe at what seems to be a hornet’s nest of overt government corruption.
The film is very much akin to last year’s best international Oscar-winner, “I’m Still Here,” which was also set during Brazil’s darkest hour, a time when people like Armando were being “disappeared” with regularity. But Mendonça Filho approaches the subject with a far more satirical eye, painting the thugs as incompetent idiots rife for ridicule.
Its heart, though, lies in the tight relationships among Armando, Fernando, and Armando’s father-in-law, Alexandre, the owner of a movie theater that doubles as a secret meeting place for dissidents. The love between the trio is genuine, often moving, rendering “The Secret Agent” very much a celebration of family, as well as something near and dear to Mendonça Filho – movie houses.
He envisions them as sanctuaries from the horrors of day-to-day life, a place that fosters community and dispels hate and bigotry. It’s really quite touching, as are his subtle tributes to the two biggest films of the 1970s, “The Omen” and “Jaws.” We catch glimpses of each on Alexandre’s giant screen. The former is particularly funny, with one couple casually enjoying a bit of fellatio in their seats. But it’s “Jaws” that gets the majority of the name drops, most notably through Fernando’s unrequited requests for Pops or Granddad to take him to see the Spielberg blockbuster. The latter tells him he’s too young and it will give him nightmares. “But I already have nightmares,” Fernando sassily replies.
The other “Jaws” reference is no less humorous but much less adorable. It’s an actual shark, slain off the Recife coast with a human leg still jammed inside its throat. How that leg got there and from where it originated is part of the intrigue, as is the night the limb embarks on a murderous rampage, in keeping with a bizarre Brazilian urban legend.
The severed leg, believe it or not, also allows Mendonça Filho to honor the many journalists who, at the time, used the lore as a coded means of informing Brazil’s most vulnerable citizens, mainly the LGBT community, of impending danger. It’s also funny, not to mention inventive, in lending Mendonça Filho’s film an irresistible cheekiness. But it’s the performances, particularly by Moura, that bring it all home.
You can’t get enough of the guy, superb at instilling Armando with a steely exterior and squishy soft interior that immediately disarms his fellow “refugees” inside the comfy hideout overseen by the sainted 77-year-old Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria). Her guests include a German ex-pat portrayed by the late Udo Kier, the unforgettable star of Mendonça Filho’s “Bacurau.” His Hans has the dubious honor of having survived Hitler, only to find himself in a similar fix under Geisel’s iron rule.
And I cannot go without praising Thale Junqueira’s outstanding production design, which evocatively recreates 1977, from the ubiquitous “Jaws” posters to the eggshell phone booths from where many a clandestine call is placed. I also love the screaming headlines in the tabloids, keeping a daily count of the rising death toll (it’s up to 91!) at Carnival. It’s the ultimate nostalgic high. No wonder it’s considered a frontrunner for this year’s best international film Oscar. It’s everything a movie should be: sexy, exciting, informative and endearingly zany. Forget 007; I’ll take this “Secret Agent” over that stuffy Brit any day.
Movie review
The Secret Agent
Rated: R for some full nudity, sexual content, language, strong bloody violence
Cast: Wagner Moura, Tânia Maria and Maria Fernanda Cândido
Director: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Writer: Kleber Mendonça Filho
Runtime: 158 minutes
Where: In theaters Nov. 26 (limited) before expanding Dec. 5
Grade: A-
