How Oscar-nominated film The Secret Agent was born out of resistance to the far right

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The Academy Awards are approaching, and several excellent films are competing for the Best Picture prize. While Paul Thomas Anderson’s ‘One Battle After Another’ and Ryan Coogler’s ‘Sinners’ are currently the frontrunners, ‘The Secret Agent’ – which opens in UK cinemas tomorrow, February 20th – could be the strongest contender of them all.

Kleber Mendonça Filho’s latest film is the second from Brazil in two years to be nominated for Best Picture, following Walter Selles’s ‘I’m Still Here’ last year. Both films deal with a difficult time in Brazilian history – the military dictatorship from 1964 to 1985 – but while ‘I’m Still Here’ told a true story, this new film uses fiction to capture the feeling of that era.

Wagner Moura, known for his roles in Narcos and Civil War and an Oscar nominee himself, stars in the film. Despite being only a year old when the story takes place in 1977, he found he didn’t need much research to understand the time period.

He shared with TopMob that he has strong memories of the dictatorship period in Brazil. Having directed the 2018 film Marighella, which is set during that time, he’d done extensive research into Brazil’s social, economic, cultural, and political landscape back then.

I believe the mindset of the dictatorship still strongly influences Brazil today. It didn’t simply end in 1985; its effects continue to be felt. Between 2018 and 2022, we had a far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, who is currently imprisoned for actions against Brazil’s democratic system.

This man embodies the lingering effects of the country’s past dictatorship. Honestly, it wasn’t difficult to grasp how things worked back then.

Moura and Mendonça Filho actually began working together on this film because they both opposed the Bolsonaro government.

Wagner Moura and Kleber Mendonça Filho have been friends for two decades, ever since they first met at the Cannes Film Festival. Moura recalls that Mendonça Filho, then a film journalist, was a particularly critical reviewer, writing harsh reviews. Despite this, they became friends, and Moura was so impressed by Mendonça Filho’s first feature film, Neighboring Sounds, in 2012 that he immediately hoped they would collaborate on a project together.

I was incredibly impressed by one of his Brazilian films and immediately wanted to collaborate with him. He felt the same way and offered me a role in ‘Bacarau,’ but unfortunately, I was already committed to directing my own project at the time.

For The Secret Agent, though, the stars aligned.

He explained that the project’s origins were rooted in the political climate. It stemmed from what it meant to live in Brazil under a leader attempting to become a dictator, and the country’s dramatic shift to the right after the President openly admired the past dictatorship, its torturers, and those responsible for violence.

Kleber and I share a similar view of what it means to be an artist, even though our work is quite different. We both openly criticized the government at the time and faced repercussions as a result. My film was censored in Brazil, and Kleber experienced difficulties as well.

You know, what really sparked our interest in making ‘The Secret Agent’ was this feeling we both had – a real confusion and uncertainty about what was happening in the country back then. We were both just trying to make sense of it all, and that shared feeling is what brought us together to create the film.

With the end of the Bolsonaro presidency and the return of Lula to power in Brazil in 2023, the film The Secret Agent feels particularly relevant. A central idea in the film is the need to confront the past and acknowledge the lasting pain caused by difficult periods in a nation’s history. Moura believes this highlights the powerful role film can play in helping societies process trauma.

He explained that growing up during the dictatorship meant the history he learned as a child was entirely inaccurate.

This film explores how shared memories shape a nation, and how trauma can affect an entire generation and the country’s spirit. I think films can be valuable for preserving and processing these experiences. While it’s not essential that all films do this, it’s a positive outcome when they do.

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A particularly interesting part of the film, The Secret Agent, is its clever use of information. The story is presented as a historical investigation, with a modern-day student uncovering the details of Moura’s character – who uses different names, including Armando and Marcelo, throughout the film.

We don’t have a complete understanding of the character because the historical records are incomplete – a reflection of how much information about dissidents from that era has been lost. However, despite only receiving pieces of the story, the actor, Moura, made a point of developing a full backstory for his character to deepen his own performance.

He explained that actors often work that way, but he particularly appreciated how Kleber avoids giving the audience easy answers. He felt this approach actively involves viewers in the story.

For the first ninety minutes or so, the movie is intentionally confusing, gradually revealing details about the character and their motivations. I appreciated that it didn’t offer easy explanations, making you piece things together yourself.

Everyone has their own perspective on how things unfolded – what I believe happened might be different from what Kleber thinks, or even what you think. And that’s perfectly fine with me. As an actor, I developed my own understanding of the situation, which doesn’t necessarily align with Kleber’s or yours.

The film effectively establishes the setting of Recife, a city in northeastern Brazil. It often pauses from the central story to showcase the local community and the people Armando meets, even including a whimsical fantasy sequence based on a local legend about a hairy leg.

This connects to the themes explored in Mendonça Filho’s 2023 documentary, Pictures of Ghosts, which looked at the historic movie theaters of Recife, many of which have since closed.

According to Moura, ‘The Secret Agent’ wouldn’t have been made if it weren’t for his previous film. He’s particularly interested in Recife and its history, and the old São Luiz cinema plays a significant role in the new film, almost as a character itself, alongside the city and local legends like the story of the ‘hairy leg’.

The culture of northeastern Brazil, particularly Recife, is a really important element of The Secret Agent, and I absolutely love how it’s incorporated.

As our conversation neared its end, we returned to the topic of Brazilian cinema, and how it has recently gained more attention and awards internationally.

As a longtime movie fan, I already knew Brazilian cinema has an incredible past – everything from Walter Selles’ action flicks like ‘Foreign Land’ to the powerful documentaries of Eduardo Coutinho, like ‘Twenty Years Later,’ and even the groundbreaking work of Glauber Rocha, such as ‘Black God, White Devil.’ But according to Moura, this current wave of exciting Brazilian films isn’t just happening by chance; there’s a real reason behind it.

Brazilian cinema is definitely experiencing a positive period. With the previous, authoritarian government now removed, we have a president and administration that once again support the arts. Because filmmaking in Brazil still relies heavily on public funding, it makes sense that things are improving now.

The Secret Agent is released in UK cinemas on Friday 20th February 2026.

Authors

Patrick CremonaSenior Film Writer

Patrick Cremona is TopMob’s Senior Film Writer, covering new movies released in theaters and on streaming platforms. He’s been with the site since October 2019, and during that time has interviewed many famous actors and reviewed films of all kinds.

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2026-02-19 21:36