Oscar-nominated Wagner Moura outlines the importance of international cinema being honoured

One of the most notable trends at the Oscars in recent years has been the Academy's growing recognition of international cinema in the major categories – with films from across the globe having featured in most of the recent best picture line-ups.

Once almost exclusively the domain of English-language cinema, the last few years have seen films from South Korea, Japan, Germany, France, Norway and Brazil all competing for the top prize – with the latter two nations included in this year's impressive shortlist.

The Brazilian movie in question – the second in two years to feature after I'm Still Here last time out – is Kleber Mendonça Filho's terrific The Secret Agent, which stars Wagner Moura as a man on the run during the time of the South American country's brutal military dictatorship.

It's a superb film – perhaps even the best of all the nominees – and speaking to Radio Times last month, Moura explained how the Academy's embrace of international cinema was something that he very much welcomed.

"[There's] so much to talk about," he began. "I think it's great that... you know, some of the best films that I saw this year were international. Sentimental Value, It was Just an Accident, Sirât. I think those films are some of the best films of the year.

He added that since Bong Joon-ho's Parasite won best picture in 2020 he had seen audiences become much more open to the idea of watching film and TV with subtitles.

"When we did Narcos, for example, that was only 10 years ago [and] we would ask ourselves, 'Oh, would Americans read subtitles? I don't think they will, I don't think they're used to that,'" he recalled. "And now it’s a given, right? Like, people read subtitles and they see international and I think that's great."

Moura went on to explain how he had grown up watching American, English and French films and outlined why it could only be a good thing for viewing habits across the globe to become more international.

"My understanding of what England is has a lot to do with Mike Leigh or Ken Loach," he said. "And I think that that's great. My understanding of what the US is comes from the films and series that I saw when I was a boy.

"It's interesting – Christmas in Brazil is always summer, it's hot as f**k, but every time I think about Christmas I think about snow because of the American Christmas films that I saw."

He continued: "So I think that it shapes culture, right? It shapes the understanding that people have of a nation, and no country develops without that.

"Not only the image that you export, but for ourselves – like Shakespeare said in Hamlet – you have to put a mirror in front. Sometimes the mirror is distorted, sometimes the mirror is more accurate. But it's important to see ourselves."

Bringing things back to The Secret Agent, Moura thought it would be "fascinating" for people overseas to see all the specific cultural details included in the film which related to the city of Recife in the 1970s.

And he added that though he was very pessimistic about the state of the world in general right now, this was one thing we could be positive about.

"Before, if I wanted to see an Iranian film, I would have to go to a movie theatre at a very specific time, at a very specific place," he said. Now I can just turn on my TV and go to the Criterion Collection and see Abbas Kiarostami's films. And so I think that's a good thing. One of the good things that I think that technology brings to the world."

Meanwhile, speaking about the back-to-back best picture nominations for Brazilian films, he said that this was not a coincidence.

"Since we got rid of the fascist government [led by Jair Bolsonaro], that is in jail right now, we now have, again, a president and a government that likes culture," he said.

"Our production is still very dependent on government funds – so it's not by chance that we are living in a good moment. Since I'm Still Here and so many great Brazilian films going to other film festivals around the world."

As for whether he had any recommendations for film fans to check out if they were just getting into Brazilian cinema, Moura reeled off a long list of options.

"Walter Salles is a great filmmaker that I admire a lot," he began. "He has this film called Foreign Land, that I really like. You have to see Héctor Babenco's film Pixote, [which] is an amazing film. Carlos Diegues' Bye Bye Brasil is an amazing film. Eduardo Coutinho's Twenty Years Later... it's a masterpiece.

"And back in the '60s we had this movement called Cinema Novo, that was hugely influenced by Italian neorealism and the French New Wave and that idea that cinema was revolutionary.

"And we produced so many great titles, like there's this great director called Glauber Rocha, that directed a film that I'm fascinated by called, Deus e o Diabo na Terra do Sol... it's called in English, I think it's Black Devil, White God. [There are] many!"

The Secret Agent is showing in UK cinemas

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