The Secret Agent (Original Title: O Agente Secreto), Kleber Mendonça Filho’s epic thriller, opened in select theaters yesterday, November 26, 2025, after dazzling at Cannes and BFI London Film Festival.
Set in 1977 Recife amid Brazil’s military dictatorship and Carnival chaos, it stars Wagner Moura as Armando (aka Marcelo), a widowed tech researcher fleeing hitmen while seeking his son and uncovering family secrets. The film masterfully blends political tension, surreal horror, and genre nods, earning Filho Best Director and Moura Best Actor at Cannes.
Plot
Armando arrives in vibrant yet violent Recife, hiding among refugees and corrupt cops after clashing with a vengeful regime insider. Aided by resistance leader Elza (Maria Fernanda Cândido), he navigates surveillance, a bizarre shark leg discovery, and assassins amid underground networks protecting dissidents. Flash-forwards reveal lasting impacts on his son Fernando, tying personal loss to national trauma.
Critics hail Moura’s “career-defining” intensity and the film’s unpredictable shape-shifting from noir to epic satire. Running 2h38m with a strong ensemble including Udo Kier, it’s Brazil’s Oscar hopeful blending history and homage to ’70s cinema. Watch the official trailer below.
Amid the raucous revelry of Carnival week, a widower named Marcelo (Wagner Moura) arrives in 1977 in Recife, Brazil, a city as vibrant as it is violent. A technology researcher who suddenly finds himself an unwitting target in the heart of the dictatorship's political maelstrom, Marcelo is a man on the run from mercenary killers, from ghosts of the past and from the ruthless, mischievously militant spirit of Brazil in 1977. In the midst of these mounting threats, Marcelo, with the help of a mysterious woman named Elza and her compatriots in the country's growing underground resistance, remains primarily focused on escaping Brazil with his young son. Master filmmaker Kleber Mendonca Filho teams up with renowned actor Wagner Moura - giving an extraordinary, career-defining performance - to craft a thrillingly unpredictable, playfully shape-shifting epic steeped in history even as it feels remarkably contemporary, paying affectionate tribute to the movies of Filho’s youth while unfolding against the backdrop of political turmoil and palpable danger.Where to watch The Secret Agent (Original Title: O Agente Secreto)
