Communication, City, and Memory in “O Agente Secreto”

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5752/P.2237-9967.2026v15e37747

Keywords:

Memory, Cities, Cinema, Communication

Abstract

This article examines how the film O Agente Secreto frames forgetting as a political project and as an aesthetic operation tied to Brazilian memory. Adopting an approach that privileges interpretive film analysis, it understands cinema as a device of resistance to social amnesia and as a language capable of reinscribing historical conflicts in the present. The discussion is organized around three axes: (1) cinema as resistance; (2) the city of Recife as both character and a sensitive archive, connecting urban memory to the instrumental use of symbolic assets within city-branding logics; and (3) forgetting as a public and institutional practice sustained by selections, exclusions, and hierarchies of the past. The article argues that the film rejects comforting nostalgia and exposes the normalization of erasure as a social practice.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Rodrigo Maurício Freire Soares, Universidade do Estado da Bahia

Rodrigo Maurício Freire Soares holds a PhD in Communication and Contemporary Culture (Graduate Program in Communication and Contemporary Culture, Federal University of Bahia) and has a master’s degree in Social Development and Management (Graduate Program in Social Development and Management, Federal University of Bahia). He is a professor in the Public Relations program at the State University of Bahia and the lead researcher of INTERFACES: Research Group in Communication—Organizations, Languages, and Culture (State University of Bahia).

References

ADORNO, Theodor W. O ensaio como forma. In: Notas de literatura I. Tradução de Jorge de Almeida. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2003.

AINDA ESTOU AQUI. Direção: Walter Salles. Rio de Janeiro: RT Features; VideoFilmes, 2024.

ANDRADE, Erico; KLEIN, Thais. Quando a ditadura empresarial-militar assume o primeiro plano no cinema brasileiro: "O agente secreto", de Kleber Mendonça Filho. Blog da Boitempo, 22 nov. 2025. Disponível em: https://blogdaboitempo.com.br/2025/11/22/quando-a-ditadura-empresarial-militar-assume-o-primeiro-plano-no-cinema-brasileiro-o-agente-secreto-de-kleber-mendonca-filho/. Acesso em: 16 fev. 2026.

ANHOLT, Simon. Some important distinctions in place branding. Place Branding, v. 1, n. 2, p. 116–121, 2005. DOI: 10.1057/palgrave.pb.5990011.

AUMONT, Jacques; MARIE, Michel. Dicionário teórico e crítico de cinema. Campinas: Papirus, 2003.

AZEDO, Luiz Carlos. Memória e esquecimento: O Agente Secreto mostra a vida banal na ditadura. Correio Braziliense, 13 jan. 2026. Disponível em: https://blogs.correiobraziliense.com.br/azedo/memoria-e-esquecimento-o-agente-secreto-mostra-a-vida-banal-na-ditadura/. Acesso em: 16 fev. 2026.

BATISMO DE SANGUE. Direção: Helvécio Ratton. Brasil: Quimera Filmes, 2006.

BORDWELL, David; THOMPSON, Kristin. Film Art: an introduction. 10. ed. New York: McGraw-Hill Education, 2013.

FERRAZ, Talitha. As potências da “nostalgia ativa” na luta pela salvaguarda do Cine Vaz Lobo. Revista Eco-Pós, v. 20, n. 3, p. 111–133, 2017. DOI: 10.29146/eco-pos.v20i3.14476.

GAGNEBIN, Jeanne Marie. Lembrar escrever esquecer. São Paulo: Editora 34, 2006.

HALBWACHS, Maurice. A memória coletiva. São Paulo: Vértice, 1990.

HUYSSEN, Andreas. Seduzidos pela memória: arquitetura, monumentos, mídia. Rio de Janeiro: Aeroplano, 2000.

HUYSSEN, Andreas. Present pasts: urban palimpsests and the politics of memory. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2003.

JAMESON, Fredric. Pós-modernismo: a lógica cultural do capitalismo tardio. São Paulo: Ática, 1997.

JELIN, Elizabeth. Los trabajos de la memoria. Madrid; Buenos Aires: Siglo XXI Editores, 2002.

MARIGHELLA. Direção: Wagner Moura. Brasil: O2 Filmes, 2019.

MEDEIROS, Ettore Stefani de; FONSECA, Gregório de Almeida (org.). Experiências culturais do tempo: mídia, memória, nostalgia, tradição. Belo Horizonte: Selo PPGCOM/UFMG, 2020.

O AGENTE SECRETO. Direção: Kleber Mendonça Filho. Recife: CinemaScópio, 2025.

POLLAK, Michael. Memória, esquecimento, silêncio. Estudos Históricos, Rio de Janeiro, v. 2, n. 3, p. 3-15, 1989. Disponível em: https://periodicos.fgv.br/reh/article/view/2278. Acesso em: 16 fev. 2026.

RETRATOS FANTASMAS. Direção: Kleber Mendonça Filho. Recife: CinemaScópio, 2023.

RIBEIRO, Ana Paula Goulart. Mercado da nostalgia e narrativas audiovisuais. E-Compós, v. 21, n. 3, 2018. DOI: 10.30962/ec.1491.

RICOEUR, Paul. A memória, a história, o esquecimento. Campinas: Editora da Unicamp, 2007.

VANOYE, Francis; GOLIOT-LÉTÉ, Anne. Ensaio sobre a análise fílmica. Tradução de Marina Appenzeller. Campinas: Papirus, 1994.

Downloads

Published

2026-08-11

How to Cite

SOARES, Rodrigo Maurício Freire. Communication, City, and Memory in “O Agente Secreto”. Dispositiva, Belo Horizonte, v. 15, p. e37747, 2026. DOI: 10.5752/P.2237-9967.2026v15e37747. Disponível em: https://periodicos.pucminas.br/dispositiva/article/view/37747. Acesso em: 18 aug. 2026.

Issue

Vol. 15 (2026): Tema Livre e Dossiê temático: Nostalgia(s) nas mídias

Section

Nostalgia(s) in Media

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Rodrigo Maurício Freire Soares

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

The copyright of articles published in Dispositiva belongs to the author(s) of the text, based on the rules of Editora PUC Minas. The journal has the right to first publication of the article, registered under a Creative Commons CC BY 4.0 sharing license. The license allows the text to be shared and adapted, always with attribution, without additional restrictions. Authors are requested to sign a declaration stating the authorship, originality, and novelty of the text during submission, according to the terms below:

  1. By submitting to Dispositiva, authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right of first publication, with the work being published under a Creative Commons license in the form of attribution, non-commercial use, and sharing under the same license (CC BY 4.0).
  2. When submitting to Dispositiva, authors are authorized to enter into additional contracts separately for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (e.g., publishing in an institutional repository or as a book chapter), with acknowledgment of authorship and mention of the initial publication in this journal.