Sundance 2020 Review – The Mole Agent

The Mole Agent is a real life spy movie with a twist.  This documentary looks at Sergio, and no, Sergio isn’t some debonair young-buck who is continuously fighting evil henchmen, he’s an 83-year-old who barely knows how to work a cellphone.  So how did he become a spy?  He was hired by Chilean police to infiltrate a retirement home where there is suspicion of abuse and negligence.  But what Sergio discovers when undercover is far different and far sadder than what he could have imagined.

Sergio is no James Bond, but director Maite Alberdi gives us scenes reminiscent of classic spy films.  We get scenes of Sergio testing out cool spy gear, like pens with microphones on it, glasses with cameras in them, and even learning how to use FaceTime on an iPhone.  We also see Sergio doing his spy work in the nursing home.  We watch as he goes room to room looking for his target and trying to see if any of the claims that he has heard are real.  Not subtle at all, it is a treat to watch Sergio do his best at trying to incognito and use all of his fancy new gadgets.

But that’s only the first half of the movie.  As Sergio begins to get some questions answered, he begins to see what is really happening in this nursing home and the people who live in it and it isn’t what he expected.  The Mole Agent is actually a film that looks at the sadness and loneliness of the people who are in a nursing home.  We watch as Sergio becomes the “king” of the home and has a number of the other patrons swooning over him.  Sure, Sergio always looks dapper in his suits and blazers, but it is because he is so genuine and so nice to these lonely people in the home that the attention he gives them means the world to them.  It’s a heart-breaking and heart-warming look at kindness and loneliness and a twist in a movie that felt like a real-life spy movie from the very beginning.

The final shot of the film is one that shook me, as it symbolizes the prison that the people in the nursing home feel and is a striking look at just how lonely they are.  The Mole Agent is a documentary that looks at how being kind, friendly, and good can change a person’s life

The Mole Agent is playing in the WORLD CINEMA DOCUMENTARY COMPETITION at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival.

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