The Secret Agent and the Year in Movies About Resistance

by

I was really captivated by Wagner Moura’s character, Armando Solimões, in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s new film, The Secret Agent. It’s interesting because, despite the title, Armando isn’t actually a government agent. He’s not really going undercover either, though for a good portion of the movie, he’s using the name Marcelo Alves. We first meet him driving up to a gas station near Recife in this beat-up, yellow Beetle, and you immediately get the sense he’s observant, like there’s something hidden beneath the surface. And honestly, in 1977 Brazil, with over a decade of military dictatorship hanging over everything, a little caution felt totally justified. The film immediately sets this unsettling tone with a scene of a decaying body near the gas pumps – apparently a thief the police were informed about days earlier. But when the cops do finally show up, it’s not to deal with the body, but to harass Armando and take his cigarettes because he’s short on cash. It’s a small detail, but it perfectly illustrates the pervasive instability of the time.

In The Secret Agent, Moura delivers a compelling performance in his first Portuguese role in years, bringing a classic, weathered quality to the character of Armando. He fully embodies the spirit of his era, feeling almost like a faded, vintage photograph. The film itself has a warm, nostalgic look, a style that becomes clearer as the story unfolds and jumps to the present day, where researchers are examining old archives. We learn that Armando isn’t just a man who crossed the wrong person – he’s a forgotten figure, and the film offers us a deeper look into his life than even those who knew him. Interestingly, Armando shares similarities with Leonardo DiCaprio’s character in One Battle After Another – both are fathers forced into hiding after opposing power, finding refuge among outsiders, and simply wanting to reconnect with their sons. Armando’s son, Fernando, is a playful boy fascinated by sharks, a fascination sparked by the movie Jaws.

Beyond Armando being more serious than Bob, the main difference between the two films lies in how they approach the past. Paul Thomas Anderson’s film looks forward, considering the challenges facing future generations, while The Secret Agent intensely examines a hidden history, attempting to recover memories buried by time and trauma. Like the director’s previous film, Pictures of Ghosts, it delves into the weight of the past. The film challenges the reluctance to confront past wrongs, acting almost like a séance for Armando, whose fate is uncertain and exists only in fragments on old recordings. However, Armando isn’t focused on escaping his present situation until he can find a single, crucial link to his past – his mother’s application for his birth certificate, potentially the only proof she ever existed.

History is written by those in power, and those who aren’t in power are often forgotten. This year, several films, including The Secret Agent, explore what it means to resist, alongside titles like Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just an Accident and Julia Loktev’s My Undesirable Friends. The Secret Agent features characters who are former revolutionaries, but also people simply trying to escape difficult or dangerous situations. The protagonist, Armando, isn’t necessarily a rebel; he’s a man targeted for defending his university departments. The film suggests that you don’t need to be an activist to become an enemy of an authoritarian regime—simply crossing someone with power is enough. In The Secret Agent, the lines between a refugee and a resistance fighter are blurred; there’s only the government and those it deems its opponents.

Read More

2025-11-27 00:54