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The success of Ryan Coogler’s Sinners at last Sunday’s Actors Awards (previously the SAGs) might have changed things a bit but most people still seem to be saying that One Battle After Another is the most likely contender to win Best Picture at the Oscars in a week. Personally I wasn’t a huge fan and for me, The Secret Agent is the film that that one could have and should have been. Both are atmospheric period dramas centring around a selection of people trying to hide from corrupt and violent authority figures who are after them for various spurious reasons including prejudice and petty revenge. Whereas One Battle After Another had unsympathetic characters and a fairly cliched approach to storytelling though, The Secret Agent has compelling heroes and an appealing cinematic style that keep you engaged as it meticulously spins its tale of criminality and integrity. (Both, it has to be said, are overlong. That is something else they share.)

While Sinners stands a small chance of winning the big prize on 15th March though, this one probably doesn’t. It is nominated. Along with Joachim Trier’s Sentimental Value, this is one of two foreign language movies technically fighting it out in the main category but the best chance for both of them is in the international films award contest where a more worthy and interesting battle will take place. It might be six years since Parasite got Best Picture, and it is it wonderful that both of these are in contention, but non English films are still a long shot. One Battle After Another’s demonising of immigration officers is going to stand it in good stead in Democratic Hollywood too. 

Still though, The Secret Agent is the vastly superior movie. The story is deceptively simple yet still intriguing and smart enough to leave some questions unanswered. It has some time leaps which it uses at first to no effect and then later to great effect and the characterisation and performances are sublime. Wagner Moura, so great in Narcos and Civil War, is a million times easier to route for than Leo in One Battle and I think he might actually have a shot for his own golden statuette. 

There is also a fascinating approach to truth in the film. It depicts a place and period of mistrust; Brazil during the 1970’s dictatorship, and the idea of not being able to trust what is presented informs much of the narrative. This is most obvious in a surprising section that features a severed limb (which is actually based on a real South American urban myth) but this is just an extreme representation of what is threaded all the way through. 

I’ll leave its other treats to be discovered but accolades or not (it already has a load) The Secret Agent is one of the best films of the last twelve months and should be seen. 

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