A 2025 Political Thriller With A 99% Rotten Tomatoes Score Might Be The Best Movie Of The Year

The world is full of fantastic movies that too few people have seen, and more quality films disappear in the sinkhole of unsung gems every year. To save one of the very best films of the year 2025 from that pile, allow me take a moment to sing the praises of writer-director Kleber Mendonça Filho's (who was also behind "Bacurau," one of the weirdest Westerns you'll ever watch) amazing thriller "The Secret Agent." 

The movie is a common sight on various "best of the year" lists, as well as Brazil's choice for the 2026 Oscar for Best International Feature — not to mention the fact that it's one of the odds-on favorites to take home the statuette. While not necessarily well-known by American audiences (yet), "The Secret Agent" has already proven its worth many times over. Mendonça Filho was named Best Director at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival, with star Wagner Moura ("Narcos") also winning Best Actor and the movie taking home the FIPRESCI Prize. 

"The Secret Agent" has critical appreciation to match its accolades, too, with a near-perfect 99% Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes. In other words, there's a pretty decent chance that we're witnessing the birth of a classic here — one with a pedigree that gives it a pretty good claim to call itself the best movie of the year. 

Several of the best political thrillers and spy movies of all time draw inspiration from large-scale real-world events like the Cold War. While ostensibly about both politics and espionage, "The Secret Agent" largely avoids the trappings of both genres and focuses on a very specific, turbulent time in a very specific country — namely, Brazil's military dictatorship era, which lasted from 1964 to 1985 and involved some serious abuse of citizens' political and human rights. 

Set in 1977, "The Secret Agent" sends us to a point in time where this period has already ground people down for years, yet there's still no end in sight. Its focal point is a teacher called Armando (Moura), whose mysterious mission and powerful enemies make for a captivating centerpiece — a gentle-looking, yet raw nerve amidst the chaos. However, the real star of the movie is the chaos itself. "The Secret Agent" rolls out refugees, desperate dollar store hitmen, and rightfully paranoid people who are trying (and generally failing) to get by in a world where human lives are worth less than nothing. 

The end result is a captivating description of a turbulent, senseless period of history that not too many people outside South America are necessarily very well aware of. By adding flashes of surrealism and allowing the story to unfold at its own leisure — and even refusing to elaborate on some of the brutal and flabberghasting events it depicts — "The Secret Agent" elevates itself above ordinary thrillers. It's not a movie as much as it is a glimpse into feverish memories of a very bad time in history, which makes it all the more captivating.