"Everyone is complicit. The chief of police's henchmen are his sons. But he's not torn about the example he's setting. They carry out his orders without questioning him. Callous self-interest is their true inheritance. A rotted-out spiritual capital gets handed down from generation to generation. They're part of an expansive network of everyday villains who get their thrills from hunting down liberal do-gooders. Kidnapping, murder, extortion: it's all part of the sadistic fun taking place under a dictatorship."
"He's introduced to viewers on his way to find refuge in the seaside city of Recife. It's one of those films where the ocean isn't recreational; it's a safe harbor for sharks. When he pauses to fill up his gas tank, the camera, taking up his point of view, zooms in on the dusty ground where a corpse is clumsily wrapped in newspapers and cardboard."
The Secret Agent portrays a society in 1970s Brazil where corruption permeates politicians, police, the media, and industrialists. Moral choice is erased; everyone participates in a network of ordinary villains who take pleasure in persecuting liberal do-gooders through kidnapping, murder, and extortion. A police chief openly cultivates callous self-interest, passing violent impunity to his sons and henchmen. Marcelo, a weary protagonist, arrives in Recife and immediately confronts abandoned corpses and indifferent authorities. Patrol officers prioritize intimidation and bribe-extraction over justice, forcing Marcelo into cautious, defensive behavior. The film frames the seaside city and its carnival as settings of threat rather than refuge.
Read at Metro Silicon Valley | Silicon Valley's Leading Weekly
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