Kleber Mendonça Filho’s gripping thriller The Secret Agent is set in the 70s but casts light on present day politics
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hen the Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho was writing his latest movie, in 2021, he felt shame about the situation in his homeland as it took “a sharp turn to the right” under then president Jair Bolsonaro. “Well-informed friends … would pat you on the back and say: I feel for you,” the film-maker recalls.
Four years later, as the film hits big screens, Bolsonaro is out of the picture and Mendonça’s mood has changed.
“I am very proud of what is happening in Brazil,” says the director after recently seeing the far-right populist receive a 27-year prison sentence for masterminding a failed coup.
