The Secret Agent

I’m not even sure whether to call it a Brazilian film or a Portuguese one. The story follows a man named Armand, who is hiding quietly inside a refugee community while two contract killers are hunting him down. I genuinely want to explore more world cinema, especially films from different countries. So I thought, fine, it’s Oscar-nominated — let me watch this one. Honestly, it took me three days to finish it. The film is set in 1977 Brazil and does a very detailed job of capturing the city, the people, the fashion — it gives you that classical, retro cinema experience. Visually, it feels authentic and carefully crafted. But the story moves very, very slowly. At the same time, it touches on heavy themes like politics, capitalism, and communism. The screenplay keeps shifting — sometimes it builds tension, thrill, panic, that “what’s going to happen next?” suspense. There are revelations, long conversations, stretches of silence. And then suddenly, it feels flat… sometimes even lower than that. The emotional graph keeps rising and dropping in a way you just have to sit through and experience. It portrays 1977 Brazil impressively, with a strong retro cinematic presentation and deliberately slow pacing. But political-context films can be hard to fully understand if you’re not familiar with that country’s history and politics. And the ending? Confusing. This film is definitely not for everyone. And by the end of it, I was honestly just exhausted.