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With: Wagner Moura, Carlos Francisco, Tânia Maria, Robério Diógenes, Alice Carvalho, Gabriel Leone, Maria Fernanda Cândido, Hermila Guedes, Isabél Zuaa, Udo Kier
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Written by: Kleber Mendonça Filho
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Directed by: Kleber Mendonça Filho
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MPAA Rating: R for strong bloody violence, sexual content, language, and some full nudity
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Language: Portuguese, some German, with English subtitles
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Running Time: 158
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Date: 11/26/2025
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The Armando Tapes
By Jeffrey M. Anderson
This dense, long, multi-plane political thriller from the Brazilian director Kleber Mendonça Filho (Bacurau) is not always easy to follow, but even so it's intensely gripping, filled with striking imagery and radical energy. It begins in 1977 as Brazil is under the grip of a military dictatorship. Former teacher Armando (a commanding Wagner Moura) attempts to flee. In the very first scene, he pulls into a gas station, where something has been covered up by a hunk of cardboard: a dead body. When he reaches his destination, he is taken in by Dona Sebastiana (Tânia Maria), given a new name, and a job at an archive, while he awaits his papers. He becomes involved with resistance fighters. Meanwhile, his son is being raised by his father, a projectionist, and a tiger shark has been found with a human leg inside. Udo Kier, in his final role, plays a Holocaust survivor. Despite its running time and complexity, I'm eager to see this again.
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