Is 'The Secret Agent' based on a true story? This political thriller with a 99% RT score is unmissable
There are good movies, and then there are great ones. This year, fans got to watch numerous films, and one that stood out was the political thriller, 'The Secret Agent', directed by Brazilian filmmaker Kleber Mendonça Filho. According to SlashFilm, the movie managed to get a spot on various 'best of the year' lists. 'The Secret Agent' has also been selected as Brazil’s official entry for the 2026 Oscars for the Best International Feature. The movie had its world premiere at the main competition of the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year in May; Filho won the award for Best Director at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, and Wagner Moura, who plays the titular role in the film, walked away with the Best Actor award.
In terms of ratings, 'The Secret Agent' boasts a 99% on the review aggregator site, Rotten Tomatoes. In IMDb, the film has a rating of 8 out of 10. Without a doubt, the historical political thriller stands among the best films of the year. 'The Secret Agent' narrates the tale of a former professor, Armando (Wagner Moura), who gets caught up in a political turmoil in the final years of the Brazilian military dictatorship, trying to flee persecution and resist an authoritarian, deceitful regime. In case you're wondering, this film isn’t directly based on one specific true story, but is a fictional narrative that sheds light on the realities of Brazil's late military dictatorship. Along with Moura, the movie also stars Carlos Francisco, Tânia Maria, Robério Diógenes, Alice Carvalho, Gabriel Leone, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Hermila Guedes, Isabél Zuaa, and Udo Kier.
In a recent interview with Deadline, Moura candidly spoke about 'The Secret Agent' and shared, "This film takes place in the seventies, and I have three sons, for example. And it's really something today to teach them what it is to be a man and how to be. Just behave with empathy and integrity and stick with your values when things are not going well. When everybody else, including the government, especially the government, or everybody around you, is saying the opposite of what you believe, how to stick with what you think is right?"
Later in the interview, Moura was also asked if he and Filho would collaborate again in the future. Moura said, "Oh yeah. I foresaw that when I saw Neighbouring Sound, I think I found my soulmate, and we were very happy during the shooting of The Secret Agent. I've been in films where everything was great, everything was happy, and the film is bad. And the opposite, like a chaotic [experience], where you're sad that everything was going crazy, and the film was great. In this case, everything was great. I was so happy to be finally working with Kleber and to be working in Portuguese."
