Review of THE SECRET AGENT: Plight of a Politically Persecuted Professor

March 12, 2026

It was 1977 in Brazil, during its military dictatorship. Armando Solimões (Wagner Moura) drove towards the town of Recife during the time of the Carnival holiday. There, his young son Fernando (Enzo Nunez) is living with the parents of his late wife Fatima (Alice Carvalho). His father-in-law Sr. Alexandre (Carlos Francisco) worked at the local movie theater as a projectionist. However, he would not be staying with them because of safety concerns.

Using the name Marcelo, Armando stayed in the residence of Dona Sebastiana (Tania Maria) who housed political activists like the dentist Claudia (Hermila Guedes) or refugees like Angolan Theresa Vitoria (Isabel Zuaa). He worked at the Identity Card office, where he met the corrupt police chief Euclides (Robério Diógenes). Meanwhile, hitmen Bobbi (Gabriel Leone) and Augusto (Roney Villela) are hired by Henrique Ghirotti (Luciano Chirolli) to kill Armando. 

Writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho did not tell Armando's story right away from the start. He took his time, even taking time to show us a man's leg found inside a dead shark first, before introducing us all these side characters around him. It was only when we reach a scene when Armando met resistance leader Elza (Maria Fernanda Candido) that we slowly learn the full story of exactly who Armando was and why Ghirotti had sent out a hit against him. 

At Cannes 2025, this film won Best Director, Best Actor, FIPRESCI Prize and Prix des Cinémas Art et Essai. It has also won Best International Film at the Golden Globes and Critics Choice Awards.  Currently, it had been nominated for four Oscars in Best Picture, Actor, International Film and even in the new category of Casting, which is exciting as it matched the Oscar nomination haul of Brazil's acclaimed classic "City of God" (2002). 

Mendonça Filho told his serious story with dark humor (a hairy leg attacking gays in the park), as well as unbearable suspense (hired killers and their hired killer tracking Armando). I liked it when the story connected to a present day history researcher Flavia (Laura Lufési), which expanded the scope of the story. However, Mendonça Filho did an unexpected major time jump at the end as if he purposely left out the part about Armando's actual fate. 8/10