Review: 'The Secret Agent,' a paranoid thriller for a new era, puts Wagner Moura in a perfect role — a man thinking his way out of deadly trouble

I’m going to keep my synopsis for “The Secret Agent” as brief as I can manage, because it’s best not to know too much going into writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s a slow burn of a thriller — a movie that rewards the audience’s patience.

It’s 1977 in Brazil, which Mendonça Filho refers to as “a time of great mischief.” It’s here where we meet Marcelo (played by Wagner Moura), who’s driving across Brazil to his old home town, Recife. He settles into an apartment building where Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), an old rebel, provides housing and sanctuary for refugees and other immigrants.

Why has Marcelo returned to Recife? That’s left deliberately under wraps for a while. The one hint Mendonça Filho provides is a scene where an old rich man (Luciano Chirolli) is paying two hitmen (Roney Villela and Gabriel Leone) to find and kill Marcelo. The old man’s reasons seem to be both monetary and personal — and, in later flashbacks, we find out why.

It’s in those flashbacks that we also learn what Marcelo — if that’s his real name — is doing back in Recife. For him, also, It’s personal on several fronts, including a reunion with his son, Fernando (Enzo Nunes), who’s obsessed with the movie he’s not allowed to see: “Jaws.” A news report about a severed leg found inside a shark’s belly doesn’t do anything to dissuade Fernando, but the thought of the shark feeds Marcelo’s nightmares.

When Marcelo gets a job in a government archive, he is befriended by Chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes), Recife’s corrupt head of the police. Euclides, flanked by two young thugs, doesn’t seem to know that people — powerful people the chief knows — want Marcelo dead.

Mendonça Filho steeps “The Secret Agent” in the film language of the ’70s — “Jaws,” obviously, but also early Brian de Palma movies and the paranoid thrillers of the era, like “Three Days of the Condor” and “The Parallax View.” The tension here, though, is also woven into Brazil’s history, and a time of a military junta that stifles dissent through censorship and forced disappearances. 

Moura gives a smoldering performance, one that earned him a Best Actor award at Cannes in May — where Mendonça Filho also was awarded Best Director. Moura keeps his emotions locked down, but in flashes he reveals a lot about what’s brought him back to Recife and what he’s determined to do.

Mendonça Filho also includes a framing story, involving a current researcher (Laura Lufési) transcribing tapes from Marcelo’s time for some government project. It’s a grace note that reminds us that the bad days of authoritarianism aren’t that far removed from today, and can sneak back up on us if we’re not careful.

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‘The Secret Agent’

★★★1/2

Opens Friday, December 12, at the Broadway Centre Cinemas (Salt Lake City). Rated R for strong bloody violence, sexual content, language, and some full nudity. Running time: 161 minutes; in Portuguese, with subtitles.