Nominated for Best Documentary Feature at this year's Oscars, Maite Alberdi's "The Mole Agent" may have a preposterous scenario for a documentary, (it would be preposterous even in a fiction film), and yet it works and works beautifully. The filmmaker's explain everything that's to follow in the first ten or so minutes and after that it's basically plain sailing. "The Mole Agent" of the title is Sergio, a man in his eighties planted as a 'spy' inside a nursing home in Chile to record anything that might be happening to an elderly female inmate whose daughter fears is being abused. The crew making the film we are watching have been given permission to film inside the nursing home but only they know Sergio's purpose in being there.
The result is both deeply moving and often very funny as Sergio goes about his business like an octogenarian James Bond, taking notes, writing in his journal and filming people with his 'spy' pen and 'spy' glasses and despite making himself fairly obvious on occasions is the least likely and most charming agent imaginable. Alberdi's terrific film is like a non-fiction version of "Carry on Spying" with a cast of geriatrics.
It's also undeniably sad since we know that none of these people are acting and that their lives are far from perfect; there is genuine loneliness and real heartbreak here though if anyone can alleviate it it's Sergio who seems to move from secret agent to guardian angel in no time at all and as he sweet-talks the little old ladies, prompting at least one of them to contemplate marriage, it's impossible not to be charmed by him. This is his movie and I, for one, would certainly like to know what happened to him since filming was completed.
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