This introductory scene serves as a résumé of what Brazil was like under the military dictatorship and what it is like to try to make it here today. Oppressive, improvised, comical, dramatic, paranoid, and charismatic all at the same time, these qualities are blended under the peculiar writing and lens of auteur Kleber Mendonça Filho, as well as the world-class acting skill of Wagner Moura.

‘The Secret Agent’ dialogues with Mendonça Filho’s memoir-documentary ‘Pictures of Ghosts’ (2023): both use Downtown Recife’s classic film palaces. In the documentary, these theatres are fading memories of a bygone, elegant era; in the Solimões saga, they become a character alongside the picture, with a blend of colonial, neoclassical, and art nouveau architecture. The same sun that gives the distinctive coloring and shades also touches the skin of locals, granting Recife a unique look compared to more well-known Brazilian cities like São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, or Salvador. Mendonça Filho presents aspects of local culture that resonate abroad without losing identity—his film is a love letter to his childhood in Recife and its cinema culture.

Although Brazil has brought to the world many films depicting the dictatorship years, ‘The Secret Agent’ stands out. For the untrained eye, it feels like a B-movie, but this presentation is just a layer of a nuanced arthouse picture that can also entertain. The exploitation gene is more alive when the legend of the hairy leg is told during a friend’s meeting, and the narration is followed by scenes of an amputated hairy leg causing mischief in Recife’s night, which was, in fact, a way to expose the abuses of the dictatorial law enforcement agents during that era of suffocating freedom of expression. Not to forget that, according to the National Truth Commission, 434 people were killed or disappeared by the dictatorship. Nevertheless, experts like Eugênia Augusta Gonzaga believe this number exceeds 10,000 people.

Besides being another chapter of Brazil’s revisionism of its authoritarian past, ‘The Secret Agent’ follows the world success of Walter Salles’ ‘I’m Still Here’ (2024), in which a widow and mother of four defies the regime in search of her state-abducted, tortured, and murdered husband. Both films take place in the 1970s under the same government, but they feel very distinctive and showcase that Brazilian narrators have more stories from that period to tell, and ‘The Secret Agent’ keeps the Brazilian momentum in world cinema.

Since the last decade, Brazilian films have been gaining space abroad. To explore this trend, renowned Brazilian critic Sérgio Rizzo shared his perspective in an exclusive interview with The Big Picture Film Club. Rizzo explains the international award-winning picture in the global landscape: “For Brazilian cinema, the film’s successful international run represents yet another contribution to the self-esteem of audiovisual production in the country. Its international production and distribution alliances also help, following ‘I’m Still Here,’ to reinforce the image of Brazilian audiovisual production as a good partner, capable of creating works deeply connected to national culture and, at the same time, with the capacity to communicate with audiences in other countries, especially in Europe and the USA.”

Still, it is not an easy way to reclaim the role it had in the 70s and 80s as happened with ‘The Kiss of the Spider-Woman’ (1985) or the acclaim it got at the dawn of this century with ‘City of God’ (2001) and there is work to be done after ‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent,’ according to Rizzo: “However, for the success of these two films to cease being merely episodic and become a permanent occupation of a space in the international spotlight, measures are needed in the area of public policies that strengthen the Brazilian industry in the medium and long term, which is not currently happening.”

A pool of international exchange under tropical weather

Brazilian pictures have attracted international talents like Italian legend Marcello Mastroianni in ‘Gabriela’ (1983), ‘My Hindu Friend’ (2015) with Willem Dafoe, and Frenchman Vincent Cassel, who has strong ties with the nation, was cast in ‘Adrift’ (2009) and ‘The Movie of My Life’ (2017). Late German veteran character actor Udo Kier was a collaborator of Mendonça Filho, playing the main antagonist in ‘Bacurau’ (2019), which also had a squad of foreign talents, and portraying a Holocaust survivor in ‘The Secret Agent,’ a metalanguage of authoritarian regimes and their everlasting impact on their survivors, and also his last role. These and other collaborations show that there is room for foreign talent in authorial and independent Brazilian films.
When asked what foreign talent can bring to the Brazilian table, Rizzo explains: “‘I’m Still Here’ and ‘The Secret Agent’ already feature foreign professionals, especially Europeans, in artistic and technical roles. These are concrete and successful examples of opening new avenues for internationalising work, which are fundamental to the audiovisual production system in the 21st century.”

‘The Secret Agent’ features impactful cinematography by Russia’s Evgenia Alexandrova, while ‘I’m Still Here’ has a rich soundtrack by Australian musician Warren Ellis. Rizzo further elaborates on these symbiotic international relations:

Just as the US audiovisual industry traditionally relies on the talent of professionals from other countries; the Brazilian audiovisual industry has its doors open to the participation of foreign ‘players’ in strategic positions. Actors and actresses, for example, can revitalize their careers by participating in auteur films with strong festival presence and high circulation on prestigious exhibition circuits, which, in turn, allows them to occupy spaces in the global media spotlight. Producers can associate themselves with local projects and benefit from this same privileged circulation.” – Sérgio Rizzo

In this current high-momentum period, Brazilian cinema can accommodate both veteran and emerging talents. Names like Academy Award-winning Melissa Leo, charismatic 80s leading man Philip Michael Thomas, and New Queer Cinema mainstay Guinevere Turner come to my mind as they can offer much on and off-screen. While actors that deserve greater leading status include Ireland’s Mark Ryder (Borgia) and local Alexandre Rodrigues, who brought ‘City of God’s Rocket to life. Although the future is uncertain, the Brazilian cinema community, alongside local and foreign talents and fans, should savour moments like the one unfolding in this unique, sun-bathed corner of the globe.

The Secret Agent is in cinemas now

The post ‘The Secret Agent’ Unveils Authoritarian Trauma and New Narratives For World-Cinema appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.

Aside from just being entertaining movies and tv shows often political thrillers have a political agenda – the 1954 version of Animal Farm had heavy involvement from the CIA, pushing an anti-communist agenda. While the book was indeed a criticism of Stalinist Russia, Orwell was a self-declared socialist. But these agendas are not always supporting the establishment, often political thrillers are made to criticise those in power.

All the President’s Men – Power Corrupts

A political thriller worthy of the word thriller is All the President’s Men, covering the Watergate scandal and the investigation by journalists Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein. As odd as it sounds seeing people sift through records and have discussions with newspaper editors is indeed thrilling. Perhaps not made with an explicit agenda certainly the film is hugely critical of unchecked political power and the necessity of constant oversight. Also pushing the role that journalists can – and should – challenge those in authority and have the power to bring them down. It’s hard to overstate the impact this film had on the genre.

Zero Dark Thirty – The Ends Justify The Means

A controversial example is Zero Dark Thirty – a political thriller directed by Katheryn Bigelow and starring Jessica Chastain about the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the raid that killed him. Already bristling with controversy, many people interpreted the film as endorsing torture, saying that the film suggests that they only found Bin Laden because they had carried out torture on captured terrorists. Obviously, this was an issue very much in the public consciousness, with the rights and wrongs of torture being discussed. Human Rights Watch criticised the film for implying that torture can be a useful, if unfortunate, method of getting information and that it lead to being able to find Bin Laden. Conversely, Centre for American Progress puts forward that the film is more complicated, showing the moral cost of torture and how actually very little useful information was gleaned from it.

Syriana – Influencing The World

Syriana is an example of a political thriller that has a more left-leaning agenda; the film is set across continents and focuses on political considerations of control of oil in the Middle East. There are several different storylines focusing on companies, the CIA, regime change, torture, assassination and radicalisation. It’s a film that does not show America in a good light, with it using its military, intelligence services and economic might to get what it wants. This was a film very much in the ‘War on Terror’ when America was engaged in two specific wars with much debate about why they were fighting them and how they were fighting them. Taking Syriana as a guide a person would probably come away with a very cynical understanding of the War on Terror.

So what are the responsibilities of filmmakers when making these political films, where as well as telling a story they’re perhaps putting forward a narrative? Often the cinematic portrayal of events is remembered more than the actual history, or even if the events are portrayed accurately a simple shift in tone or perspective affects how the audience understands them. That being said, providing a filmmaker is not making out-and-out propaganda – explicitly putting out a message by the government or other powerful groups to impact public understanding – they should be able to tell a story as they see fit. Whilst I am hesitant about the depiction of torture and its effectiveness in Zero Dark Thirty many people would think of Syriana as being over-the-top in the villainy of America. All filmmakers have a responsibility to think about the film they are making, and the stories they are telling, but I don’t think political thrillers are held to a different standard. Besides, a film doesn’t have to explicitly be about the War on Terror or democracy in America etc to push a narrative, to return to Animal Farm, on the surface it’s just about barnyard animals.

Also Read: Hollywood & The Military: A Special Relationship

The post Political Thrillers: Between Fact, Fiction, and Hidden Agendas appeared first on Big Picture Film Club.