The Secret Agent

The Secret Agent /  O Agente Secreto takes place during Carnaval in Brazil. Fun! Pre-Lent outdoor partying was brought to Brazil by Roman Catholic colonizers from Portugal. Lent is a 40-day period before Easter, when Catholics celebrate the resurrection of Jesus Christ. So, five days of partying is a good idea, before the required prayers, and abstention from luxuries.

Rio de Janeiro is the site of the world’s biggest Carnaval celebration. The word Carnaval comes from the Latin carne vale, or ‘no meat.’ Sounds like a good vegetarians’ club name. I’m not sure how Argentinians, dedicated carnivores, get through Lent. I think people used to give up stuff that can be tough to give up like alcohol or adultery. Now, it seems, giving up your morning donut is good enough. It may seem a small sacrifice, but Jesus does want your triglyceride levels to go down.

Early street festivals featured people throwing lime-scented water at each other and wearing costumes that mocked the rich. Today, anything goes except total nudity. Think a group made up as a roller coaster, shirtless men with bead necklaces, women in bikini tops and shorts with headdresses.

Rio de Janeiro is the site of the world’s biggest Carnaval celebration. There are themed block parties that start weeks ahead of Lent, like “I am Normal, but the Coconut is Crazy.” Of course! Coconuts are always crazy.

The parades culminate in the Sambadrome, with seating of up to 90,000 spectators. Samba evolved from the traditions of dance and music of enslaved persons from Africa.  In Rio, parades and floats enter the Sambadrome, where the best clubs perform. The lavishly and skimpily costumed performers dance and drum for tens of thousands of ticket holders.

Brazilians are world famous for their love of partying, and many cities and towns have their own Carnavals. With a history of slavery, land stolen from indigenous peoples* and about a 25% poverty rate, the season is a reprieve for many as the street festivals are sponsored with public and private funds. Purportedly, jogo do bicho/organized crime syndicates for illegal gambling also sponsor parties. Yeah, I can see that they’re not going to miss out on profits and promotion during the year’s biggest party.

The Secret Agent takes place in Brazil during Carnaval in 1977. Now, of course nothing can go wrong among jam-packed revelers, like thievery or drunken fights, right? But mostly it’s fun; unless you are running for your life like Marcelo (Wagner Moura), a former university professor.

A little background, because this is a political thriller. From 1964 – 1985, Brazil was ruled by a military dictatorship. During this time there was extensive corruption that benefited military and government members along with financial elites who supported the regime. Many people suffered because of the dictatorship. Dissent was squashed by censoring the press and kidnapping/arresting people as ‘domestic terrorists.’

Marcelo is traveling to his hometown of Recife to see his young son, Fernando (Enzo Nunes). The former professor has angered someone with political power, so he’s trying to keep a low profile. Maybe then he shouldn’t be driving a bright yellow VW Beetle. Maybe toss some mud on it.

Marcelo pulls over at a rural gas station, but he re-thinks the stop when he sees a dead body lying in the dirt in the parking area. But he’s really low on gas. The station worker rushes out to let him know that it was just a robber who was killed- not a customer. He says the police are too busy with Carnaval to come out. Later, we’ll see police officers taking bets on how many people will be killed in this year’s Carnaval.

Surprisingly, the po-po do show up, but they are unconcerned about the body. Instead, they start extorting Marcelo. They try to find his papers out of order or the car violating road rules. When that fails, they get surly. Now they’ll have to ask for a ‘donation.’

Marcelo is allowed to continue after forking over a ‘gift.’ As he picks up speed near a sugar cane field, his car is chased by a person in a costume that looks like they have stepped into a straw hut for a dress and wearing a red carved piggy mask. I can see wanting to wear the costume but not wanting to chase a car.

Marcelo makes it to Recife where he goes to his in-law’s apartment. They are relieved that he has arrived safely. The open-shirted grandpa leads Marcelo to the room where little Fernando is drawing and coloring. Papai! The boy is overjoyed to see his dad and they hug. Soon the kid is telling his dad how he wants to see the movie Jaws/Tubarão. He shows him his drawing of the movie poster: a huge shark cruising upwards to a swimmer. Marcelo says, no, the movie is too scary for kids.

Fernando has to resort to fanboying over a 1930’s Popeye cartoon about a shark. Popeye is a hideous-looking sailor with massive forearms, a permanently closed eye, and a pipe always jammed into his over-sized lumpy jaw. Eating cans full of spinach makes him strong. In the shark episode, Popeye is holding onto a boat’s mast as it sinks. A shark swims circles around him, baring its teeth while Popeye gets ready to punch the beast. Aim for the gills! Speaking of sharks…

The movie’s action switches to a science lab where a split open shark carcass has been laid out. The police have been called in because a severed human leg was found in the stomach. A police officer, Euclides, is on the scene. He typically makes his rounds with his sons, one of whom is white and the other, Black. Idk if he has them on the payroll or they collect bribes. We’ll see how the man is and how he has taught his offspring to be horrible human beings. Euclides takes a passing interest in the case, but already knows there will be no investigation unless someone important inquires. He’s very busy shaking people down for money or looking for ‘communists’ to beat.

Marcelo is staying at a little apartment complex in what looks to be on the city’s outskirts. Actually, Recife is a city of, at the time, more than 1.5 million people, but quaint compared to São Paulo’s now 20 million people strong metro area.

Marcelo will have to get to secret meetings undetected by unknown would-be assailants. His father-in-law arranges a rendezvous at a tiny office in the theater where he works as a projectionist. On the way into the crowded cinema to talk with Elza (Maria Fernanda Cândido), an activist in a human rights group, Marcelo hears screaming from the theater where Jaws is showing. Two women help another woman who, overawed by the great white shark’s attacks, has staggered out of the theater. At least now Marcelo knows that he made the right call not letting his young son see the movie!

Back at the apartment complex one night, the elderly landlady, Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria) acts as a sort of house mother, providing shelter to people who find themselves to be fugitives from the dictatorship. Dona Sebastiana is a colorful character who has been an anarchist and a communist. One night, some lonely residents gather at her apartment, smoking and touching on the periphery of their own stories. They share fake names. Is Marcelo even Marcelo? The landlady eases the tension by suggesting they listen to music. Musica! Something that Dona Sebastiana was around for the inception of. Kidding! But she is really old.

Brutality hangs in the air. Everywhere, people are convivial, but watchful. Maybe someone will turn you in for something fabricated, settling an old score. Or someone will see an opportunity to make some cash, selling information or even murder-for-hire. And the police, including Euclides, are looking to persecute communists—which they have a very loose definition of. For example, a college student, or a worker seeming to agitate for better wages or work conditions. Or if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time.

In a moment of surrealism, we see the severed leg that was removed from the shark carcass come to life and amble to a city park late at night. We see a capybara standing vigilantly near a pond—safe from jaguars, but humans and dogs can be dangerous. But the leg?!  Even the capybara looks alarmed. Soon the leg is kicking people in the face! Most of the victims seem to be gay men hooking up and sex workers. I didn’t know what was going on, so I looked up some 1970’s Brazil history…

Since newspapers were unable to print anything that reflected poorly on the regime or its supporters, reporters ran sensationalist stories for entertainment. Sometimes they would allude to crimes that were common knowledge through crazy stories. The police were beating people having sex in parks—I guess a ticket wouldn’t be macho enough. But if it’s a severed leg, the government is not accused. And people are getting a dressed-up version of things that are actually news.

Marcelo will have to sneak away and outrun not just uniformed thugs, but freelance assassins. This is where the skills of a secret agent would come in handy. But he is a nonviolent man who had been living a normal life. What put him in a government official’s crosshairs? What happened to Fernando’s mother?

Understand that asking questions or speaking up in a dictatorship is very dangerous. I’ll quote a line from the movie about the decades of tyranny: It was a time of great mischief. This is why an honorable person is just trying to escape with his son. It’s best that the child doesn’t know that it’s not sharks that he has to fear. Well, if he goes to the ocean he should watch out, because Popeye the Sailor Man won’t be around to help.

As for Carnaval? I applaud Brazilians for keeping the party going despite dark times. Now, with the military dictatorship and Bolsonaro out of the picture, people have more reason to celebrate.

*How do Indigenous Peoples in Brazil feel about Carnaval?  Some groups use it as a platform to bring attention to issues affecting them, such as land rights and attacks against activists who protest mining. As well, they endeavor to educate others about cultural appropriation. Specifically, using native attire as costumes.

P.S. The National Truth Commission documented 434 political murders and disappearances. Over 9,000 people were jailed and tortured. Political opponents, artists, students and journalists were targeted; so were their families.  The brilliant movie, I’m Still Here, tells the story of the disappearance of Marcelo Rubens Paiva and the jailing of his wife Eunice.

The Secret Agent includes vignettes related to classism and wealth, as well as an account of violence against women.

Movie Loon’s Movie Review Shortcut:

Grade:  A-

Cut to the Chase:  A political thriller that effectively personalizes a dictatorship’s impact on a person. Wagner Moura gives a powerhouse performance as Marcelo- never letting you forget that he is an ordinary citizen being made to try the nearly impossible; outmaneuvering a tyranny and its agents.

Humor Highlight:  The streets are jampacked with revelers and Marcelo adeptly dances his way through the crowds to get where he’s going.