"Armando Solimões, the mournful-eyed central character played by Wagner Moura in The Secret Agent, isn't a government operative, despite the title of the film. He also isn't undercover, exactly, though for most of the first half of the film, the terrific latest from Kleber Mendonça Filho, he goes by the alias of Marcelo Alves. When Armando first rolls up to a gas station on the outskirts of his hometown of Recife"
"Then again, it's 1977 in Brazil, and a degree of caution is warranted from everyone, given that the country is over a decade into a military dictatorship whose effects have seeped into many aspects of day-to-day life. We get a sense of that destabilization in the opening scene, when Armando notices a corpse moldering a dozen or so yards from the gas pump - a would-be thief, the attendant tells him, whose death the police were notified about days ago."
"The Secret Agent is Moura's first Portuguese-language role in years, and he infuses Armando with the ragged gravitas of a New Hollywood star while embodying the specifics of his time and place so intensely he could be an old Polaroid come to life. The whole film is shot in the rich tones of an exhumed photo album for reasons that start to become clear only halfway through, when it takes an abrupt jump forward to a present day"
Armando Solimões arrives in Recife under the alias Marcelo Alves, carrying a guarded watchfulness after travel. The setting is 1977 Brazil, where a decade-long military dictatorship permeates everyday life and enforces caution. The opening scene reveals a moldering corpse near a gas pump and a police culture more interested in shake-downs than investigation. Wagner Moura returns to Portuguese-language performance, giving Armando ragged gravitas and vivid specificity. The film's visuals evoke an exhumed photo album and later jump to a present day where university researchers examine archival material. Armando becomes a half-forgotten memory rendered with intimate detail.
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