Everyone who loves of Brazil’s northeastern city of Recife was over the moon when director Kleber Mendonça Filho’s film The Secret Agent won a number of awards at Cannes Film Festival in 2025. I happened to visit Recife during Carnival in February of the following year and learned for myself just how proud the people of the city were of the film. The Carnival itself seemed to be extolling its praises with performances of music from the film and huge puppets of Brazilian film icons. I had stumbled upon the Carnival by accident, but I had been intrigued by the scene and thought that watching the film would allow me to understand this city a little more. So, when the weekend came and the Carnival calmed down, I went to go see The Secret Agent at the Cinema São Luiz, a location which is featured in the film itself too.

The cinema was packed with locals. Not only does The Secret Agent feature a number of important Recife locations, it is also filled with local turns of phrase and jokes. The venue had a level of excitement that you wouldn’t expect from a regular cinema viewing with whistling, applause, and even booing. When the Cinema São Luiz finally appeared on screen, the packed building seemed to revive like a living creature.

This was the second time I had visited this cinema which was built in the 1950s. When I came to Recife in 2019, I watched Jogos Dirigidos (Directed Games) directed by Brazilian artist Jonathas de Andrade. During that screening, they had a live music performance alongside the movie and I remember worriedly looking up at the big hole in the ceiling which seemed to threaten to come crumbling down at any point. The film was incredible and had so much energy that, combined with the reverberations from the music, I did genuinely wonder if the ceiling would survive the performance. Luckily, since then, the walls and ceiling have been beautifully refurbished, so I imagine that no matter how thrilling the film may be, the building will be able to survive through it.

Recife is blessed by film. Although I couldn’t understand the Portuguese used in The Secret Agent, by looking at the reactions of my fellow moviegoers, I realized that film was a method of expression that this city needs. This film, which deals with the military dictatorship in the 1970s and illustrates the spirit of Brazilian resistance, with twists a plenty, shows Brazil’s inner strength in how movies and other forms of artistic expression can be used to inspire and bring people together.