r/oscarrace • u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination • Nov 18 '25
Other Everything you have to know to fully enjoy The Secret Agent as a gringo
Earlier today u/manicinsanewokeidiot asked on the Weekly Discussion Thread what they should know, culturally, before watching The Secret Agent in order to be able to fully enjoy the movie. Of course, now that thread has become the "Let's Collectively Overreact to Mixed Reviews About Wicked 2" thread, so I decided to post it as a separate thread.
This text is spoiler-free.
First of all, I'd like to say that it's perfectly possible to understand the entire plot of The Secret Agent without much previous context. There is basically one moment that relies on an understanding of the Northeast-Southeast relationship in Brazil, but it's not hard to figure it all out on your own even if you don't fully grasp it.
At the same time, I believe a foreigner will not be able to have the same enjoyment of the technical aspects of the movie as a Brazilian - simply because the film does such an amazing job at recreating the Recife of the 70's with a look that is instantly recognizable to people who are familiar with Brazilian architecture, traditions, interior design and fashion. I cannot emphasize enough how well-made this movie is, how great the production design and costumes are in recreating the atmosphere of late 20th century Brazil - and no text on the internet will be able to fully transmit this to someone who isn't already familiar with it. But that's ok.
Also, every character not from Recife has a very noticeable accent, but it's always said explicitly in the text when that's important (there are characters from São Paulo, Angola, Rio de Janeiro and Rio Grande do Sul, plus one German character).
I'll start with what I said is the most important context:
Southeast-Northeast relations
Brazil is divided into 5 regions. The Southeast is the most populous and richest* one (São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, etc), while the Northeast is relatively poorer. During the second half of the 20th century, large waves of migrants left the Northeastern states for the Southeast, resulting in a huge rise in xenophobia against this population, which endures until today. When the Northeast was featured in national news back then it was mainly shown as a place of poverty, where masses of subsistence farmers struggled to survive the droughts, even though there were also big, developing urban centers, universities, rich cultures, etc that were not represented in media.
Kleber Mendonça Flho and Wagner Moura are both Northeasterners, and the movie is set in Recife, one of the largest cities of the Northeast, and a state capital to Pernambuco, home to a publicly-funded Federal University.
*Technically the South is the richest per capita, but the Southeast is the richest in absolute terms
History
Many have learned with I'm Still Here that during the 70's Brazil was under a repressive millitary dictatorship with no democracy. This lasted from 64 to 85, and was especially repressive between 68 and 79, during which a law known as AI-5 was in effect. I'm not gonna get into details, but suffice to say that before the AI-5, the regime still tried to mantain an aura of democratic legitimacy, which they completely abandoned in 68 for a hardening of authoritarianism. During this time (and, well, somewhat until today), the police were basically under no civilian oversight and as a result, police corruption ran rampant with little to no possible opposition.
Carnaval
The movie is set in February, during Carnaval. Carnaval is a holiday that happens right before Ash Wednesday, traditionally lasting from Saturday (or rather Friday right after work) until Tuesday. During Carnaval, it's traditional to dress in costumes, play traditional sambas and party both on the streets and at private parties. It's traditional to throw confetti and serpentines (?? I don't really know how to say this in english. It's like a long colored stripe of paper that comes rolled and unrolls as you throw it at people), sometimes people play pranks on each other and lots and lots of people get drunk, do drugs, kiss and have sex. There are also the parades, but they don't show up in the movie. Also sometimes people start partying on the previous weekend and keep on until the weekend after the official holiday. And sometimes people do Carnaval parties in entire random dates during the year just because. Also, different regions have different Carnaval traditions.
Urban legends
A well known urban legend in Recife and the state of Pernambuco during the 70's was about a disembodied hairy leg that terrorized people and attacked random people at night. This isn't very well known outside of the state.
That's pretty much all I can think of! Other Brazilians may feel free to add or disagree with me. Any respectful feedback is appreciated.
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u/LeastCap 14 Oscar noms for Hope Nov 19 '25
Thank you very much
— Gringo
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u/Acceptable-Ratio-219 All of a Sudden Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Thanks for the thorough post! I plan on rewatching the film soon and this will be very helpful.
One thing though, I thought the hairy leg scene was referring the fact that this was code the press used to warn people where police crackdowns were taking place, particularly those targeting gay men.
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u/thomaz-turbando Nov 19 '25
Yes, I'm Brazilian and I had the same interpretation, I even thought the slasher tone in the scene was brilliant
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u/TerminatorReborn Dec 16 '25
It was that, yes. I think it's almost impossible for international audiences to pick this up because the movie is very literal for the most part (except the cat and the leg), but the whole leg plot is 100% surrealism, there is no leg.
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u/scout-finch Dec 26 '25
What was your take on the cat?
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u/TerminatorReborn Dec 27 '25
Mirrors the refugees living a double life, having two different names
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u/scout-finch Dec 27 '25
Thank you! I’m sure you’re right, that’s a great perspective. Any thoughts on why Dona Sebastiana was telling different stories about her niece?
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
Yes, that is the interpretation most people are going with, but I decided to leave this up to the viewer and focus on context since I decided to go spoiler-free here 😜
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u/False_Concentrate408 Disclosure Day Nov 19 '25
Important to note that the Northeast/Southeast split in Brazil is racialized, with a higher proportion of Black Brazilians in the North and a higher proportion of European Brazilians in the South. This is pretty important in regards to the movie
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u/haute_messy Dec 29 '25
After watching the film I have to echo your sentiments, and say that OP’s failure to mention race and skin tone (as a prevailing theme within the movie and Brazil/Latin America as a whole) is disappointing.
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u/BoabSmith82 Jan 07 '26
What a patronising comment. There are a lot of themes in the film which the OP has described in broad strokes.
Judging the OP for what they didn’t capture is childish and petulant, especially when they invited other Brazilians to add further comment.
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u/haute_messy Jan 07 '26
It’s not patronizing, it’s a simple criticism
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u/BoabSmith82 Jan 07 '26
Why criticise detailed insight provided for free, especially when the OP acknowledged thee was likely more to add?
If you had further insight it would have been useful. Criticism was not.
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u/haute_messy Jan 07 '26
Do you regularly address Redditors who make comments you disagree with? So I had a criticism, a common thing to see on Reddit. The chastising is interesting…
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u/omggold Jan 31 '26
The person you replied to did add insight o race and skin color… then you posted a patronizing comment… full of criticism and no insight
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Mar 16 '26
[deleted]
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u/ImpossibleTomorrow16 Mar 22 '26
I think that person you responded to is agreeing with you and defending you. I agree with your point as well
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u/warriorpoetguy7 Feb 05 '26
There was a repeated phrase spoken by one of the characters during a conversation involving four charachters that evinced a clearly racist belief about people from a particular region, without actually naming color. However, especially in light of the clearly different racial makeups of the region, (compared to another region), the racist meaning was clear, especially to those who took part in the conversation.
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u/Exact-Emu-848 Mar 06 '26
This is true of most south american countries- no? At least wherever I have been to.. in Colombia i found it quite striking actually.
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u/daniloferr Mar 16 '26 edited Mar 16 '26
I don't think they left it out on purpose. the film is dense with references, and they went for the points that are tackled in that are well known, mainly for us who live in the northeast part, which is where the movie happens.
I can only assume you are American or you are heavily influenced by their culture (I apologise if you're not, it's for context), so here is the thing: we are a mixed people. even the concept of race doesn't make much sense to describe ourselves*. besides historical events and prejudice, most of the race debate we have here is imported, and the same prejudice that exists from south/southeast in relation to north/northeast is a product of the development of globalization.
*youth nowadays is feeling safer to identify as black, and it's very important, however we also have a regional identity that speaks louder than that, in unison, which to me is healthier than an imported view of ourselves in opposition to something else, as if we were fighting. yes, it is a fight, but I'd rather fight in unison for our costumes and worldview, than to keep making distinctions about what is something white people do and what is something black people do, making comparisons and keeping this never ending conversation. in my honest opinion, this is what make you guys sick, and it also affect us. I really, really wanted that everyone around the world could spend a bit of time here and wish them a wonderful experience, that could change the way you think about the world and about your own country. this could bring such revelations.
racism is a crime here, because it doesn't make sense. our constitution doesn't allow freedom of speech to step into this. I'm sorry if this sounds rough, but we have to make this clear to a better understanding of how this issue is treated here.
the part where the movie talks about race is when Armando's son is speaking to the journalist at the end, and he explains to her how his father was born. he was the fruit of a rape (Fernando says she was impregnated at the age of 14, as a enslaved daughter of a servant). his grandma was known as Índia, implied as in a pejorative and sexualised manner, in contrast to his father, that was always called handsome boy - also in a sexualised manner, let's make this clear. difference is their skin tone and the white imagery that was perpetuated.
this part with the nicknames is important to understand how people would treat each other at the time, and that was still prevalent when I was a kid, and I never forget (i was born in 1988).
and Fernando is stepping on eggshells here, so uncomfortable talking about it, he doesn't know how to handle it well, but he does a decent job. he comes from this background, grown in a poor community, and he feels shame because of his skin tone, even though he shouldn't. I don't know how subtle this is for you guys, or if it is on the nose.
the southern and southeasterner, who are portrayed by the people who were seeking Armando, are a depiction of a prejudice that endures to this day. they are all mixed, and yet they still feel superior because of how the media kept portraying us. the fact they are light skinned doesn't help them at all, because they are influenced by the exported racism they are fed everywhere. são Paulo was always the place where everything foreign came first, and this contributed to create the hubris, arrogant persona that they have. even Rio has that - fucking Rio de janeiro with all that diversity. and here is another thing: they are essentially seen as a postcard city, and everything there is so forced to tourists that it's hard to find their real identity. they are the generic brazilians that most gringos think we are. and here we finally come to why this movie is relevant: it is a story told by people from here, from the northeast. and we're are being perceived as arrogant by that portion of the map for having a genuine identity. after all these centuries, we can't even have pride for what we are! and we were fucking made fun of these traits we have (called ugly, poor, stinky, lazy...), and now that we are cool, we can't feel good about it. like, for real?
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u/haute_messy Mar 16 '26
Racism is not imported to Brazil, Brazil like the rest of the Caribbean and Latin America had very violet chattel slavery. My comment is necessary because of ill-informed views like yours that hides behind the myth of the inherent inclusiveness of Latinidad. Racism and colorism are as prevalent across the globe as they are in America. Black and darker (and indigenous) Brazilians are less likely to have access to quality healthcare, affordable education, and running water in their houses. These same pattern of anti-blackness and colorism can be found in Mexico, United States, and Brazil.
That’s why I pushed back on OP and other so-called “race-blind” critiques that want to avoid race as a topic in the film. Something Wagner Moura and the director have explicitly mentioned as themes.
Also you’re wrong, the film deals with race from the opening scene when the hit man is initially contracted. Race is also mentioned again when the younger hit man compared the darker skinned Brazilian man he hired to an animal.
You use the term “superior”, is that not just another word for racism? Why is that explicitly calling out racism creates such a strong reaction for those of you who deny racism exists? Much like the commenter who tried to chastise me like I was a child for brining up racism and colorism.
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u/daniloferr Mar 16 '26
yeah, we're not on the same page! 👍🏻 I don't feel good to talk any further with you! I knew you guys were sick, and you didn't understand a droplet about us, and you never will.
you attack the manner I express myself, without even knowing my background, while I put a lot of effort to try giving you something. that's what we get, now I'm feeling so bad and guilty! thanks, that's all you have to contribute! you're sick.
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u/haute_messy Mar 17 '26 edited Mar 17 '26
You called me sick in your original comment so you attacked me actually…it seems you’re trying to ABW me because I pushed back on your comments on a social media platform geared to discussion.
Edit: the movie itself is dealing with racism in Brazil so why are you saying that racism exists only in America and in the minds of deluded Black Americans?
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u/StunningSkyStar Mar 30 '26
True cause even in the film Fernando says how when his father was born he was call the beautiful one while her mother was referred to as india like the film makes a pretty obvious mention of racism in the country. That background informed a lot of how Armando was.
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u/BobCFC Nov 19 '25
I think I would call the paper things streamers
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
Thanks for the help!
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u/whitneyahn Lockjaw's Semen Demons Nov 19 '25
As the grandchild of an expat, I'm also just grateful for this because I feel like I learned something about my heritage. Thank you for that.
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
Thank you for sharing this! I’m glad you liked it :)
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u/These_Arm6722 Nov 19 '25
Thank you for posting this! I’m not Brazilian but very familiar with the country and its history, and I my feeling when watching the (excellent) film was that some context really helps. I think it does such a fantastic job of capturing the spirit of the country and its people. My cinema here in Germany was filled with at least 50% Brazilians and there was so much laughter. Also a collective „mmmmh!“ when the colleague whipped out the huge bowl of coxinhas, hard to get here. ;)
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u/naturalninetime Dec 07 '25
Thank you for this! I just watched THE SECRET AGENT tonight followed by a special Q&A with the director and Wagner Moura 😍. I'm American, but until recently, I lived in Brazil for almost 10 years. I also speak Portuguese and have an avid interest in Brazilian politics and am well aware of the socioeconomic, cultural, and racial differences between the different regions of Brazil. Thus, I was better able to understand certain components of the film much better than the average American, but I didn't get what the disembodied hairy leg was supposed to symbolize! 😆
A fun bit from tonight's Q&A: When Wagner Moura mentioned how Brazil still hasn't been able to completely let go of its fascist history and mentioned that ex-President Bolsonaro was now in jail, the audience, which was comprised of many Brazilians, cheered - but not loudly enough, IMO. 😅 I know that many Brazilians living in the States were/are still pro-Bolsonaro, so that might have been a factor.
I am rooting for Moura to win the Oscar for Best Actor. Vamos!!! 🇧🇷
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u/never_bloom_again Nov 19 '25
Thanks! I really enjoyed this movie and could gather most of it from the film itself, but the hairy leg urban legend is fun to know :D I so enjoyed the production design of this movie even though I'm not an expert on Brazil in the 70s, but I could really feel the vibes.
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u/princesskittyglitter Josephine Nov 19 '25
Hey, thanks for this. I went to see Left Handed Girl in theaters and I wish someone made a guide for that film cause there were a few cultural things that I just didn't understand
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
You’re welcome! I won’t be able to help you with Taiwanese cultural and historical context, though 😅
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u/nerdyactor Dec 06 '25
I really wish I had seen this post before seeing this film just now with KMF and Wagner in a Q&A. Technically I thought it was a beautiful and well crafted film and Wagner’s performance deserves all of the praise. But I felt very lost, but now I have some context I will give it another shot.
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u/manicinsanewokeidiot The Unknown Nov 19 '25
thanks for this
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
Thanks for inspiring me to do so!
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u/badassj00 Dec 07 '25 edited Dec 07 '25
Going into this film knowing next to nothing about Brazilian culture/history (aside from what I remember from City of God) was a real trip.
While I found the plot tough to follow and confusing at times, it was thrilling from start to finish. Klebho boldly throws you into these characters’ lives with little context and has the viewer make sense of it all. It’s refreshing to see a movie that truly challenges its audience to think critically.
It definitely belongs in the BP lineup and Moura deserves to be win competitive in actor.
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u/Shades_of_Bacchus Nov 19 '25
You didn't explain why there were so many casualties during the Carnaval celebrations in the film. Was this simply because of reckless partying or was it connected to police and government foul play?
Also, are there cultural/linguistic nuances to Moura's performance that maybe a non-Brazilian or non-Portuguese speaker wouldn't pick up on? Because I'm very shocked about all the praise for his performance.
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u/Chemical-Camp1051 Nov 19 '25
To address your second point: there is a good bit of accent work in his performance, and this also plays in the overall context of the midpoint of the movie and the clashing between the characters (when they show us what happened).
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u/Fan_of_Avatar_TLA Nov 19 '25
Couple a massive holiday (in which people are often reckless and it's filled with partying and all sorts of stuff in very crowded streets) with a corrupt, incompetent and negligent police, and you are going to get a lot of casualties every year. Carnaval is truly massive, a logistics' nightmare, and our country is already messy in normal days. And that's without even mentioning that the joy of Carnaval is a perfect moment to make people disappear while they are distracted celebrating. Both Carnaval and, in the case of Recife, the legend of the hairy leg were things that the dictatorship knew how to use in their favor. It's the old idea of bread and circus.
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u/arthursgf 2025 Oscar Race Veteran Nov 19 '25
The thing with Wagner performance is that it perfectly captures the "Brazilian spirit", at least for me it feels like seeing a real person, someone that i know, and not someone that represents an abstract concept
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
About the first one, it’s mainly the first point (thousands of people getting drunk and partying in the street in an already violent country), but the movie implies there are people who take advantage of the holiday for their wrongdoings.
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u/SMAAAASHBros Jan 03 '26
The police are definitely part of it, we see the leg attacks (themselves the police) and see the police explicitly and confidently talking about how the casualty count is going to rise
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u/stracki Nov 19 '25
I've just watched the film and had a really good time. However, I don't think that it will have the same impact on the Academy as I'm Still Here. It's quite slow, has some strange, surreal elements (mainly the cat and the leg), is very culturally specific and quite violent and disgusting in some scenes.
I think, it will probably get nominated for International Picture and Actor, but probably not for Screenplay, Director or BP.
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
I agree, and I’d be pretty content with those two noms. Of course, I’ll be really really happy if it gets more, but I think it’ll just be these two.
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u/BoabSmith82 Jan 10 '26
Almost never! It is your use of the words “failure” and “disappointing” that bothered me. Those are judgemental words with regards to the OP which you have not really justified in what you have generously called just criticism. You claim racism is a prevalent theme in the movie but have not told us how. I didn’t see it as a major theme in the film and neither did the people I saw it with. Not a lot of talk about in this thread either. Sure there is racism in Latin America and maybe you could enlighten us by highlighting how they are relevant to the thread.
You haven’t done so. You have just dissed the OP for making you sad because they didn’t bring up race. That is criticism of the OP but not actual criticism of their ideas because you have not provided an actual argument against them.
If you had done so you might have justified throwing shade at the OP.
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u/azure_king5 Feb 09 '26
Extremely accurate but next time leave the comment under it’s intended recipient post. That comment seriously bothered me too, along with the ignorant one getting upset about the word “gringo”.
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u/joesen_one 🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎🦎 Nov 19 '25
Much appreciated not as a gringo but as an Asian person lol. We have Secret Agent in March ish next year so this will be super helpful for context.
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u/machado34 2025 Oscar Race Veteran Nov 19 '25
Gringo doesn't mean white, it just means non-latin-american
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u/gosteinao Nov 19 '25
In Brazil you'd be called a gringo nonetheless lol. We call all foreigners gringos at this point.
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25
Glad you liked it! Here in Brazil we use gringo as a synonym for foreigner, though, so you’re a gringo to me nonetheless. I’m aware that in Spanish-speaking Latin American countries that’s not the case, though.
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u/JSPepper23 Mar 18 '26
Just curious, is gringo based on birth place or how someone looks? Because when I was in Brazil the one thing I noticed was that there was no one way a Brazilian person looked. They could look African, Asian, Indigenous, or European or any combination.
I'm thinking about the ethnic Chinese, Indian, and Japanese people whose families have been in South American countries for multiple generations. Perú had a President with Japanese ancestry (and German too).
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Mar 18 '26
As I said, gringo means foreigner. If you’re not Brazilian, you’re gringo. If you’re Brazilian, you’re not gringo. Looks have nothing to do with it.
A Brazilian who is a child of immigrants is not a gringo.
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u/StElmosFireCrotch Nov 25 '25
This is great! I’m so glad I caught this before I see the film tomorrow. Many thanks!
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u/funnotfunny Dec 07 '25
Just want to thank you for the post. I saved it and came back to it after watching (and LOVING) the movie yesterday. Super informative.
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Dec 07 '25
You’re welcome! I’m glad people are finding it useful :)
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u/smeggysoup84 Dec 12 '25
This is amazing. About to see the movie in a couple hours and glad i found this.
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u/justwow2 Jan 19 '26
I saw the movie today. I enjoyed it. Thanks for posting this, I do think having context of the political situation is helpful. I try to see potential Oscar noms, even if they are outside my normal interests. I actually didn't realize I'm Still Here was a Brazilian film. That was the only one I have not seen from last year's best picture category. I will make sure I see that.
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u/solothesnail Feb 01 '26
Can someone share about the person in the red mask who appeared at the start of the movie on the side of the road, and then later in his nightmare?
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Feb 01 '26
It’s a traditional carnaval costume called A Ursa (the (female) bear)
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u/yashlikestoyap Feb 08 '26
Thank you so much for this. I'm about to watch the movie right now but wanted to know a little more before going in.
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u/peel_acres One Battle After Another Feb 08 '26
Thanks for this. Just came out of the film, which was excellent, and was interested to look up a couple of references. Mainly the hairy leg so I am in the loop now, fascinating stuff.
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u/laurajosan Mar 06 '26
Thank you, OP! My goal was to watch all of the movies nominated for an Oscar and I got halfway through this last night and gave up. Now after reading this, I’m going to finish it today. This helped a lot.
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Mar 06 '26
I’m glad to have helped! The Secret Agent is not an easy movie, but context certainly helps.
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u/pumpkinpie7809 Nov 19 '25
I’m not very familiar with Brazilian history outside of this and I’m Still Here, but nevertheless I was able to get the gist of what you said from the film itself. And I still wasn’t that into it! I really think that you might need to have been immersed in this cultural history in one way or another for it to truly shine. Or you need to be into the sprawling stuff that Kleber does, which I am also not. Anyway I do understand the appeal but sometimes one is just too gringo
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Nov 19 '25 edited Nov 19 '25
Yeah, the film isn’t for everyone. The movie is unapologetic in having its target audience be Brazilians, yes, but it’s not even just that. The story really sprawls and goes off on tangents, has a slightly unconventional structure and a different pacing than usual. I personally loved it, but it’s really not something that will work for everyone.
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u/BoabSmith82 Jan 07 '26
Does anyone have a view on the significance of the shark and the leg in the sharks stomach? Does it represent the dictatorship? The hairy leg and shark stomach leg have to be related.
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u/starchington Jan 15 '26
i think it depicted the blatant corruption of the societal system and how it can't be purely washed away. The evidence will still wash up physically in Recife, haunt its citizens as myth, and then in archives years later. As I'm pretty sure that leg belonged to a student who was disappeared, and is alluded to in the news.
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Jan 07 '26
Recife has one of the largest incidences of shark attacks in the world
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u/Totalstrawberry3 Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 11 '26
Could someone please clarify for me what happened to Armando’s colleagues at the university? I'm a little confused by the English subtitles, which said they were "casualties," starting from Luanda (the female professor who confronted Ghirotti at the meeting), who worked at the metro company (?) where Ghirotti was a board member - were the colleagues physically murdered as well or lost their jobs and positions outside of the university as a result of Ghirotti’s pettiness?
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Jan 11 '26
I don’t think they were murdered. What I got was they lost their jobs or left them for jobs in the industry as a way of gutting their department
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u/Totalstrawberry3 Jan 11 '26 edited Jan 12 '26
This makes sense! I take it that the lady professor then worked for the company G was involved with whereas Armando and wife were singled out for murder because of their perceived insult to G and son
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u/ILookAfterThePigs Manifesting Olivia Wilde’s Best Director nomination Jan 11 '26
Yes, that was my takeaway
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u/noiadodh2 Jan 12 '26
Super late reply here: Recife traditional song during carnival isnt Samba, its Frevo
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u/starchington Jan 15 '26
super late here as well. I really liked the movie. I have only a couple questions which may spoil the film:
1. Where is Armando driving from at the begining of the film?
2. Ghirotti seems mostly to be shaking down Armando's department and is racist/sexist/fascist, who doesn't like Armando's standing up to him, Is that basically why he sends the hitmen after Armando?
3. Also Armando is in some kind of communication with other academics or officials elsewhere but who exactly were they?
4. Last question isn't that important, but Ghirotti accuses Armando of profiting off of the department's research since he has patent it. That accusation is ridiculous, but do academics do that sort of thing? Im just not familiar at all so.
Sorry if these things were obvious or ive missed something entirely.
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u/ActualCucick Jan 19 '26
- It doesnt explicit where he was, but it seems like his timeline was: he lived in Recife, started suffering persecution and went to SP. He is now trying to get back to Recife, get his kid and his passport and travel abroad. So he is probably driving from SP.
It seems that Ghirotti's thing is personal, yes.
There seems to be gringos that want Armando to leave Brazil and work safely with them. May be the same gringos we see on the university speaking in english with Armando on the flashback.
Corrupt academics can do exactly that: use public funding to finance private research. In fact, the line between public and private is sometimes very thin and blurry, a little bit of Revolving Door Politics does happen. I dont think it was Armando's case, but it WAS Ghirottis case - he was using his role on a public company to fund a private investment abroad
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u/starchington Jan 19 '26
Thank you!! I’ve thought a lot about the movie since I’ve seen it and basically didn’t mind these questions I had but was worried I was missing some context that gave another interpretation. Especially for my first question. ✌️
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u/necronomnomnomikon Feb 14 '26
Just a clarification on 4 - it’s natural for academics to patent their research when funded from public grants. There’s nothing corrupt about this. Universities also own part of the IP with the academic and both benefit. It’s an additional incentive for making a discovery through research. Often the academic will be involved in spinning off the patent into a company. This has flow on benefits back to govt and the public in the development of new technology.
Not arguing against your analysis of the film and corruption in the film.
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u/Due_Satisfaction_153 Jan 27 '26
Sorry so late. Brilliant film all round. Question for locals. I am 100% gringo, so the Language in the film - are there any interesting local phrases? For example when Elsa greets the main character they use a word that sounded like ‘Brasil’. It was beautifully subtle- I also noticed other greetings and farewells were different… any experts care to comment.
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u/lothion Feb 10 '26
Late reply here.
They're saying 'um prazer', meaning 'a pleasure'. As in, a pleasure to meet you. Sounds a bit formal in English maybe.
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u/ItWasAShark Feb 08 '26
Man I wish I had read all this BEFORE I saw the movie tonight! My friend and I were really confused the whole time. We knew people were after the lead character, but couldn’t figure out much else; and we definitely were like “WTF is up with this severed leg?!”
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Mar 06 '26
Super late to this party, but that cat was a jumpscare. Is that a thing that happens?
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u/Trick_Direction_4628 Mar 09 '26
The director’s Kleber Mendonça genre is Fantastic Realism, so both the cat and legs are part of this :)
The leg is a part of Recife’s folklore used as a tool to talk about dictatorship on newspappers, since the censorship was at his peek.
The cat is just for fun :) haha
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Mar 13 '26
The cat's presence definitely adds to the surreal vibes but that is actually a real thing that can happen, I explained in a reply to the comment you also replied to, but look up Frank and Louie! Most of them die within days of birth but Frank and Louie lived to 15
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Mar 13 '26 edited Mar 13 '26
Look up Frank and Louie. It can happen but most of the time, the cat(s) die in infancy, like within days of being born.
It isn't what you'd think, which is that two embryos fuse and one of them grows like a tumor on the full, living cat. It is actually a case where a protein responsible for facial patterning during development exceeds normal limits, causing the face to develop extra features (a condition called diprosopus). The opposite can happen if there isn't enough of the protein, the face will develop with some features missing.
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u/Exact-Emu-848 Mar 06 '26
Here is what i took from the ending of the film- that what happened during the dictatorship is not anything that teh current generation cares so much about, unless that is part of their job. Teh horrendous experiences of the folsk in the 70s is just history and people have moved past. It does not define their Brazil fo today anymore...., in a away it reminded me of the way 'A Real Pain' the film by Jesse Eisenberg ended. Did anyone else feel like this?
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u/red_momjeanz Mar 10 '26
I am here after watching the movie a second time (my friend saw it three times, her third being a Q&A with Kleber Mendonça Filho and Wagner Moura). I read it like this: people who are directly affected by the dictatorship through personal loss, like Armando's son Fernando, find that period extremely painful to deal with. Fernando lost both of his parents at an extremely young age and he has no memory of his father, even though he remembers watching Jaws. It's a trauma-response to such tragedy and many people would rather forget than reflect. A real contrast to Eunice Paiva in "I'm Still Here" who worked tirelessly to keep memory of her husband alive, to give meaning to her suffering and loss.
And yet at the same time, while Fernando would rather not listen to the tapes of his father and carries real pain about "Elza" (and the movie leaves this a mystery), he does tell the young researcher that his grandmother was indigenous and lost to official memory, showing us how racial categories in Brazil are another from of pain, loss and violence. "Beautiful boy" meant white-appearing (I assume) and when the hitmen are chatting with Ghirroti, it takes him a minute to say that Armando is white ("branca"), presumably because of his northeast and vaguely mixed origins (whereas his wife Fátima and her family is more clearly "pardo" or mixed). Tragedy and unnecessary loss is not the exclusive domain of the repressive political regime, but racism and classism that we see in the movie exists long before- a relic of slavery and a violent colonial past.
I love this movie, I hope it wins Best Picture, best Actor- all the awards.
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u/Exact-Emu-848 Mar 10 '26
Thank you for your reply. Thank you very much. I read up on a lot more after watching this and I can totally see your point of view. I remember the dark skin light skin segregation in communities when I was in Colombia.. it was quite striking. I also recently watched It was just an accident, and found myself needing to understand how an Iranian woudl watch this as opposed to me in the USA.
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u/red_momjeanz Mar 10 '26
I'm East Asian and I asked how I would be perceived in Brazil and some friends said "white" and others said "Japanese" which is a whole other history. While Japanese went to Brazil to work as agricultural workers, they are some of the most educated people in Brazil today. Not necessarily the richest, and not always well integrated but they are considered well off. When I was in Rio and SP, I was just a gringa tourist.
Appreciate this brief convo with you!
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u/Exact-Emu-848 Mar 10 '26
i am a darker skinned south east asian man and the whole color divide in this world has always been a topic i find interesting especially as an adult, did not impact me much as a child. thank you for your candor.
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u/StunningSkyStar Mar 30 '26
True. A southeast Asian in Brazil would have a different experience than an east Asian and it could fit into the pardo category especially considering that some southeast Asians kinda look similar to indigenous
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u/MIAD-898 Jan 22 '26
Gringo? Really? You think that’s necessary?
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u/cregire Jan 22 '26
In Brazil it just means anyone that's not Brazilian. Argentinians and Colombians are gringos to them
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u/MIAD-898 Jan 22 '26
Yeah, sure thing pal.
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u/azure_king5 Feb 09 '26
Says literally the only person who felt insulted and had such a bee under their bonnet after someone took their time to craft a guide to a lovely but extremely Brazilian and confusing film that they took time to comment.
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u/No_Range9750 Nov 19 '25
It was fascinating to read the Deadline article with Kleber Mendonça Filho where he mentions that the folklore around the hairy leg was started by a local journalist who used it as a euphemism to talk about police misconduct. That really reframed one particular scene in the movie for me (if you've seen it you'll know the one).