Kleber Mendonça Filho's new film, "The Secret Agent," was released in theaters in recent weeks. A cinematic masterpiece, it earned the Brazilian director, a Cannes Film Festival regular, the Best Director award, and Wagner Moura the Best Actor award. The film richly deserved the Palme d'Or, but the presence of the great Jafar Panahi on the Cannes red carpet that same year prevented it from winning. ---- The film plunges us into the "Years of Lead" in Brazil and follows an agent who takes refuge in the Northeast amidst the festive atmosphere of Carnival. From the very first scenes, the jovial atmosphere of the celebration is overshadowed by the oppressive socio-political context of the dictatorship. Gradually, the film descends into a nightmare where several cinematic genres intertwine: thriller, fantasy, drama, and comedy.
The Secret Agent then appears as a special envoy from our present time, infiltrated into a dictatorial past that continues to haunt an entire country. His mission is to reveal to us, with great clarity, how, in times of dictatorship, unscrupulous capital gains the upper hand over the state and the law; how the police apparatus becomes complicit and subservient to the hand of capital; and how class, gender, and racial oppressions are blatantly intertwined.
Our agent finds refuge in the Northeast, within an island of solidarity and mutual aid, hidden from the eyes of the police and mercenaries. Mendonça thus reminds us that even in the darkest times, candles remain, radiating humanism, support, and kindness. In this haven, the agent, thanks to his network, secures a position in the police station archives while awaiting his fate...
The Secret Agent is undoubtedly Mendonça's most accomplished film, exploring his recurring theme of archives and memory, already present in his short films, notably Vinil Verde. This interest in memory translates into an immersive recreation of 1970s Brazil, through vibrant colors, cars, costumes, and architecture-a motif also central to his film Aquarius.
Mendonça crafts this film into a genuine dialogue between past and present. The character of the student archivist makes this dialogue possible and guides us in reconstructing history. She shows us that preserving memory, by confronting the darkest episodes, is the antidote capable of immunizing us against the repetition of these periods and freeing us from the "sharks" that haunt us when we merely look at the poster for Jaws without ever daring to watch the film.
Mendonça thus leads us to ask essential questions and offers us solid answers: what must we do to banish our repressed collective nightmares, which can resurface at any moment? How can we be sure we truly know our past? Do we need to acquire the necessary maturity to finally watch Jaws?
A great film, a world away from mere "mindless work," which deserves to be seen and discussed.
Hayha (UCL Montreuil)
Kleber Mendonça Filho, The Secret Agent, 2025, 2 hours 40 minutes.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Voir-Mendonca-Filho-L-Agent-secret
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Source: A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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