This article was originally published on September 29, 2025 out of the New York Film Festival. The Secret Agent is now in theaters.

Brazil is in turmoil in Kleber Mendonça Filho’s latest film, the political thriller The Secret Agent . It’s 1977, a military dictatorship is in place, and countless people in the country are affected by the cadre’s brutality, fake news, and corruption. University professor turned political refugee Marcelo (Wagner Moura) is the film’s entry point, and around him, Mendonça Filho weaves a complex web of relatives, fellow dissidents, like the elderly Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), and enemies, including young assassin Bobbi (Gabriel Leone), all of whom have their own often-conflicting agendas. The result is an immersive, urgent, playful, and devastating film

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