CIFF 2025 Movie Review: The Secret Agent

Wagner Moura gives one of the best performances of 2025 in The Secret Agent, Kleber Mendonca Filho’s slow-burning and captivating Brazilian thriller.

Set in 1977 Brazil during the Carnivale celebration, The Secret Agent finds Moura playing Marcelo, a technology expert who secretly returns to his hometown to reunite with his son, with plans to escape the country as a corrupt government system is hot on his tail.

Why is the government after Marcelo? That is a question that lingers for about the first hour of The Secret Agent. During this time, Filho gives us small hints about Marcelo’s story. We first meet Marcelo at a gas station where the police search his car for anything mildly illegal. For not knowing who Marcelo is or anything about his surroundings, the scene is relatively suspenseful. Moura never looks suspicious, but there is a subtle fear in his eyes as the police go through his car. It’s Moura’s performance that makes this mysterious scene so tense. Following the police search, we learn Marcelo is staying at a safe house for other people on the run. He makes several mysterious phone calls and changes his name when he gets a new job working at a government building, filing IDs.

As we learn more about Marcelo, Filho takes us on a tour of 1977 Brazil, a lively and corrupt time. The Carnivale celebration leads to over 100 deaths, yet the police do nothing about it. The police run the streets doing whatever they want, whenever they want. The streets of Brazil are bright and vibrant, giving the film’s look a personality of its own. Its chaotic beauty adds tension to Marcelo’s situation, as you never know who you can really trust or if something is lurking around the corner.

When Marcelo finally reveals what happened to him and why he is hiding out, in a masterclass scene of acting by Moura, that is when the tension ramps up. We learn Marcelo’s whole backstory. We learn how he got into the situation he is in, the people who are after him, and what his ultimate plan is. The remainder of the film is suspenseful and gripping, as it feels like the walls are slowly closing in on Marcelo. With the film being a tightly constructed thriller about circling corruption at the highest levels of power, The Secret Agent played like an Alan J. Pakula political thriller from the 70s.

The Secret Agent is a tense political thriller deeply rooted in Brazilian culture. The film’s conclusion offers up big ideas about our relationship between our personal history and our country’s history. It’s a bold finale, but a beautiful one that lands perfectly and elevates The Secret Agent to one of the year’s best films.

The Secret Agent played in the International Competition category at the 2025 Chicago International Film Festival.

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