Chilean director Maite Alberdi's new documentary 'The Mole Agent' is truly a spy thriller in its most innovative form. Not only does it take on the route of arranging the camera to be “hidden”, but the mixing of genres (documentary and narratives) is also exceptionally smooth and the overall plot really flowed - not dry nor insincere at all - in fact, one of the most authentic and truthful documentary filmmaking among all in 2020. The premise is quite simple: an 83-year-old gentleman disguised as a new resident in a nursing home with mostly women residents while he's really a hired spy for a project that a previous criminal detective is leading, and the goal is to investigate how the mom of the business's client (the family) is doing in the retirement home.
The movie opens with a montage of the former criminal investigator Romulo Aitken interviewing a few gentlemen who share the same age range. This opening effectively and joyfully set a foundation for the overall tone of the rest of the film - and an expectation for the audience to know what's to come. The residue of this fun and heartwarming thriller documentary absolutely does not disappoint, it carries its initial charm throughout the entirety of the movie.
If the opening builds a high expectation of the story to come, then it fully explored in terms of the excitement and fun once our protagonist Sergio had arrived at the nursing home. Largely due to his personal charm and style, “He's a gentleman”, “I think he's a gentleman”, “He's fun to talk to,” and “He gets the conversation going”, are some of the initial impressions the female residents had on this newcomer to their home. Not long did Sergior take for the entire nursing home to fall for him - he's unanimously selected as the “King” of the retirement home and one woman, Bertita, who was ready to “give her virginity to the god”, even already plans an imaginary wedding with him. Sergio, of course, besides all the attention and love he has been receiving, does not forget about his mission - he did find Sonia,and he has proceeded to believe that she has hidden secrets. Like the virgin Bertita, or the senile woman who believes is her mother calling her once so often but never visits - it is hard not to shed a tear to witness a woman in her last phase of life, disappointed and saddened, because her mom which she still believes to be alive, never visits. Such scenes and subplots connect and support the main narrative of Sergio's spy mission; these scenes, however, far from abruption, are an effective tool to give insights to the authentic state of living and state of mind of those who reside in the nursing home. In clearer words perhaps, our protagonist enters an environment with a goal to find out the truth, but as he's doing so, both the spectators and Sergio himself, get something more out of the original “spy work”, and that is:how the elderly face the loneliness and the inevitable vulnerability that is set to come with their age - and how should “we” interact with them, the older generation in the society.
'The Mole Agent' is essentially no more than a story about the elderly living in nursing homes disguised in the shell of a detective's mission. But the story is both full of excitement and heartfelt moments, and the investigative nature of the plot does not hinder the core from being warm and touching.
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