A pack of cigarettes. The Secret Agent by Kleber Mendonça Filho shows how money enables someone to survive a police search for bribes. The exchange process in this situation appears somewhat old-fashioned to modern eyes. The film shows corruption through its entire range because it recognizes how the practice operates from individual police officers who take cigarettes on country roads to government officials who steal large amounts of money from the dictatorship. The same reasoning applies to this situation even though the numbers have different decimal values.
The film starts at a gas station where a dead body remains hidden under cardboard for several days while it continues to decay. "Don't mind him," says the attendant. The man attempted to steal petrol before receiving a fatal gunshot wound. Property defended, problem solved, corpse pending. Armando, our protagonist, fills his tank and drives on. The year is 1977 in Brazil where the military dictatorship operates through such standardized decision-making that its choices have become automatic.
Wagner Moura delivers a performance as Armando which maintains a calm demeanor that makes the audience uncertain about his character. He's heading to Recife under a false name, trying to reach his young son and get them both out of the country. His wife is dead, almost certainly killed by the state. The director Mendonça Filho presents Armando's life story through short sections which require viewers to study his financial records during their first hour instead of understanding his reasons. The jellybean-yellow Beetle. The boarding house for refugees. He determines his financial resources by physically counting the money which will fund his donation and the amount which needs to remain with him.
The boarding house operates under Dona Sebastiana who runs the establishment at age 76 while smoking cigarettes and whose weight reaches five stone after consuming large amounts of food. She's magnificent, honestly. Tânia Maria demonstrates her musical approach to show how people develop strength through their ability to choose which life experiences they will face or escape. The residents under her roof include a Somali couple fleeing their own brutal regime, a young gay man kicked out by his family, various academics and dissidents. The economic system functions through displacement because people must give up their survival necessities to stay alive.
The film runs nearly three hours and sprawls intentionally. Mendonça Filho established himself as a film critic and programmer who uses his knowledge of genre conventions to create a unique extension of these styles in his filmmaking. The video shows three different elements which include wipes and dissolves and split screen effects. The city of His Recife shows The Shining movie at its cinema while Jaws remains visible on a worn-out advertisement which hangs outside. Armando's son has become obsessed with sharks after seeing that poster, fills his notebooks with drawings of teeth. "His grandfather tells him that he will experience nightmares. "I already experience nightmares Grandpa."
There's a severed hairy leg that becomes a running gag, pulled from a shark's belly, turned into urban legend, treated as minor celebrity. The absurd detail serves to establish how people manage to survive these situations through its ridiculous nature. You laugh at what you can.
I continued to observe how economic factors influenced violent situations throughout my observations. The hit men imported from the south have their own professional grievances. The police chief who operates with corrupt behavior displays a jovial demeanor which shows he achieves high profit levels. There's a smug industrialist getting rich off the regime, and he's given just enough screen time to make you understand the system without lecturing you about it. The film shows Armando's deceased wife for only a short time through a single scene which produces a strong effect because it does not show her for an extended period. The organization now faces increased financial expenses because of her departure.
Mendonça Filho correctly shows how people survive their daily lives while living under authoritarian rule. Carnival rages through Recife, bodies dancing in the streets, 91 dead by the end according to newspaper headlines that flash past. Life goes on. Life must go on. Armando disappears into the crowd before he takes a drink and performs a short dance. The short times of concealed identity which people experience in public areas show you what freedom truly means through the experience of being chased by hunters.
Moura maintains constant observation throughout his performance which stays below the level of theatricality. The character meets his boarding house roommates in a scene where he scans their faces with a neutral expression. The performance in this film stands as the most subdued acting I have witnessed during the entire year.
The movie concludes without showing a neat solution because it shows the natural progression of its story. Some survive. Some don't. The systems which generate violence continue to function as profitable operational entities.
