Displaying items by tag: Wagner Moura

THE SECRET AGENT/ O AGENTE SECRETO

Brazil, 2025, 161 minutes, Colour.

Wagner Moura, Carlos Francesco, Tania Maria, Roberio Diogenes, Maria Fernanda Candide, Gabriel Leone.

Directed by Kleber Mendonça Filho

The title has been used a number of films about espionage. It is not quite the meaning for this Brazilian film. It has won awards at festivals, Oscar nominations, and a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a drama for the star, Wagner Moura, popular in Brazilian films and seeing and the number of international films.

Latin-American audiences will be immediately on the wavelength of this film, set in 1977, a time of authoritarian oppression, secrecy, violence – not just in Brazil, remembering the time of the generals in Argentina, the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile… For audiences not immediately familiar with this history of these cultures, a great deal of attention is required to understand, to appreciate, what is going on affecting the central characters.

And, this is a long film, most of the action taking place in 1977 but moving into significant flashbacks which require some concentration to appreciate how they reveal the characters. And, at times, there are fast forwards to the 21^st-century, two women in an office with their computers listening to tapes of interviews from the earlier period.

The film opens with Marcelo driving through the desert, a service station, a dead body, police arriving, interrogation, creating an atmosphere. He then drives to the city of Recife where an elderly woman, full of vitality and energy, runs a refuge: a teenager run away from home, a dentist and her daughter, political refugees from Angola, and a place for Marcelo and the revelation of his real name is Armando.

The film becomes rather surrealistic with a giant shark which has bitten off a human leg, an expert supervising the extraction, the police present (and a strange sequence where the severed leg, larger than life, its marauding through a park area targeting couples involved in sexual activity – and the comment that the media have taken up this story, exploiting it to cover actual corruption.

We discover that Armando has been targeted by a corrupt businessmen taking over faculty research at the University, the death of his wife, his entrusting his son to his in-laws, the sympathetic grandfather a projectionist at the local cinema, and a special focus on screenings of Jaws and the young boy’s nightmares.

The drama involves the businessman hiring and negotiating fees with assassins, their searching out a local killer, involvement of the local police, chases and shootouts, Armando in the meantime looking for evidence about his family, discussions with a sympathetic underground couple to get a passport, atmosphere of intrigue and dangers.

Even though the film is long, audiences might have wanted a bit more at the end as the film moves into the 21^st-century, the role of the women listening to the tapes investigating corruption in the past – and a visit to the young son, now working in a medical centre, symbolic that from the darkness of the past and disorder, light can emerge.

1. Brazil, the 1970s, government, of oppression, persecutions? Impact for a Brazilian audience, non-Brazilian audience?
2. The locations, the Brazilian countryside, desert, cities, Recife, San Pablo? The urban centres, official officers, police, homes and apartments? The countryside, the service stations, the open spaces? The musical score, contemporary songs?
3. The impact of the opening, Armando driving through the desert, the service station, the owner, the dead body, the police arriving, the search and interrogation? His driving on? Atmosphere of mystery?
4. The various chapters, the titles and focus?
5. Armando, arriving in the city, the contact with Donna Sebastiana, her age, chatter, story, refuge for displaced persons, Clovis going from his family, Haraldo and his mystery, the couple from Angola, the dentist and her daughter? The community, the familiar scenes together? Armando and the liaison with the dentist?
6. Building up Armando’s past, the range of flashbacks? The scenes with Chiotti, killers, the contracts and the bargaining? Their travel, local contacts, picking out an assassin, bargaining about the price? The killer and his son? The setting up of Armando, the killer with the photo, identifying him at the bureau of identity, not shooting, Armando escaping, the pursuit, Armando asking the police chief, his sending his sons, the shootout, their deaths, the wounding of the assassin, the trail of blood, the barbers, the son pursuing him, shot dead?
7. The background flashbacks, the University, the team, their investigations? Chiotti and his interventions, demands, the threats? Fatima and her response, her death? Armando and his grief at his wife’s death, the son, giving him to the care of his grandparents?
8. The grandparents, genial, the grandfather and his working at the cinema, the facade of the cinema, the range of films shown, the emphasis on Jaws? Armando and his visits, the bond with his son, the drawings, the discussion about sharks, nightmares? His plan for the passports, to get out of Brazil with his son? The grandfather realising this? The assistant at the cinema, getting the information, passing it on to the assassin?
9. The episode with the shark, the severed leg, its size, the expert, the police chief and his sons, the identification of the leg, the later sequences of the leg on the rampage, the parks, the couples and sex activity, the attack of the leg? The suggestion that the media use this story to cover up actual corruption?
10. Elza, her assistant, their helping people in trouble, the recording of the interview, the issue passports, their help?
11. The 21^st-century, the young women, computers, listening to the tapes, googling information?
12. Armando, wanting to find information about his mother, at the bureau, the support of the police?
13. The information about his death? The 21^st-century, the young women, the interview with Fernando, his medical work, Armando son, the Medical Center, formally the cinema, his not remembering his father, his grandfather showing him Jaws and no more nightmares?
14. The memories of the 1970s and oppression? Brazilian hopes for the 21^st-century?

CIVIL WAR

US, 2024, 109 minutes, Colour.

Kirsten Dunst, Wagner Moura, Cailee Spaeny, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Nick Offerman, Nelson Lee, Jesse Plemons.

Directed by Alex Garland.

The US has had a Civil War so it is not unthinkable that it could have another. Many observers from around the world might think that, in fact, the uprising and riots on January 6, 2021, the rabble invading the Capitol, the stance of the defeated President, indicated, at least, a divided America.

British writer and director, Alex Garland (who shown a liking for apocalyptic themes (28 Days, The Beach, Ex Machina, Annihilation) has been observing the divisiveness in America and created this story of a Civil War, in the not too distant future. In fact, so much of the film looks contemporary.

We are introduced to a situation where an embattled President broadcasts a speech, desperately, having intervened militarily in situations, some states seceding (rather unlikely union between Texas and California!). Troops marching on Washington DC.

While there are military encounters, especially the siege of Washington and the attack on the White House and the President, immersing the audience right in the middle of it, the point of view of the screenplay is that of a group of photojournalists, based in New York, New York where there is a disturbing protest, a bomb blast in the middle of the protest, police action, and the journalist with their cameras ready. The group decides that they will risk the travel to Washington to try to interview the president before any final disaster.

We are introduced to the group of journalists, familiar from so many movies, gathered in a hotel, plans, rivalries, dangers. The leading personality is a battle-scarred veteran, Lee, Kirsten Dunst, working with Joel, Wagner Moura, enterprising but more cautious. Lee has come across a young woman shaken up by the explosion, Jesse, Cailee Spaeney, discovers that she wants to be a proto-journalist, has come from Missouri, and, reluctantly, is taken up by the group, accompanied by an old veteran, Sammy, Stephen McKinley Henderson. The roads are dangerous and they have to travel to DC in a roundabout route.

Civil War then becomes a literal road movie, a succession of different incidents revealing what is going on in the American countryside, plenty of roadblocks, encounters with soldiers, having to take shelter from a sniper in a mansion, going through a town where everything seems normal, including a clothes shop, the citizen seemingly complacent, then the vision of soldiers on the roofs of the buildings. In West Virginia, there is a sports complex, people taking refuge on the central arena, in the seats, suspicious but the inhospitable.

There is a powerful sequence, truly upsetting and highlighting ideological stances, a group of soldiers, a truck full of corpses, then tipping them into a vast open grave, a confrontation with the journalists, especially with two journalists who join them, Asian backgrounds. The soldier, uniformed, on guard, is played as the grimly violent patriot, an embodiment of Make America Great Again, supremely self-assured, and, unhesitatingly, shooting the Asians.

And, all the time, the group are taking photos, many in seemingly impossible situations, and on the screen, we see the black-and-white versions of so many of the photos, jolting.

It is something of a surprise to find that Civil War has done very well at the box office, that it has found an audience, but it would be very interesting to interview members of the audiences as they came out of the cinema, and discover what liberals thought of it and what the conservative right made of it!

1. Expectations from the title? Memories of the American Civil War? Civil War in the future? The 21^st-century and the ideologically divided America?
2. The director, British background, interest in futuristic and apocalyptic themes?
3. The situation, the President’s speech, the audience gaging his stances, his appeal to the people, the civil war situation, his military interventions? Secession of States? California and Texas? The uprising against him? The generic nature of the issues rather than detail?
4. The New York opening, the protests, the bomb, the injuries? The introduction to the photojournalists, their involvement, daring, the close-ups, Jessie being injured, Lee helping her, Jessie and her ambitions of being a photojournalist? The refuge in the hotel?
5. The hotel, the journalist gathering, the atmosphere, tensions, journalist ambitions, photojournalists? The discussions, the rivalries? The introduction to , Joel his experience, his wanting to interview the president? Lee, her association with Joel, her ambitions? Jessie and her wanting to join them, her age, and experience? The friendship with Sammy, his age, his experience, wanting to go along as well?
6. The road journey, different faces of America, from New York State, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, to Washington DC? The impact for the audience, to understand something of the Civil War?
7. The effect of the various episodes, the car, the travel, the interactions between them, Joel, his attitude towards Jessie, her being forthright, Sammy and his experience? Lee in charge? Service station, the encounter, the deals, guns, Mansion with the sniper and being with the soldiers shooting back? West Virginia Stadium, the people gathered, hospitality, food? The quiet town, the shops open, seemingly normal, soldiers on the roofs? Tension?
8. The work of photojournalists, always alert, looking for the angle, close-ups, and the device of having the audience see the photos in black-and-white? Adding to the drama?
9. Tony and his associate, Asian background, linking up with the group? The encounter with the Patriot soldiers, the truck and the corpses, emptying them into the pit? The soldier, his stances, right-wing patriotism, his speeches and declarations, the challenge, the arguments, confrontation, the guns, his being shot?
10. The effect on the photojournalists, nearing Washington, the encounter with the encampment, the soldiers, the embedded journalists, the discussions?
11. Going into DC, the siege of Washington, the intense military action, the focus of the group, their access, continually taking photos, the extreme situations? Eventually to the White House, the confrontation with the president, the military reaction? His reaction, issue of the interview, his death?
12. The cumulative effect of this experience on an American audience? Reflect the situations of 2024 and the presidential election year? The cumulative effect on observers outside the United States? The puzzle about American society, contemporary, the future?
13. The portrait of the characters, Sammy and his experience, his death? Joel and his intensity, hesitations? Jessie, ambitions, the dangers, the violence? The common by the two women of the families back in Missouri and Colorado oblivious of the war? Lee and her leadership?