maire alberdi

Right now, as ever, we urgently need an amusing, upbeat, charming film. Welcome, then, to The Mole Agent, director Maite Alberdi’s spy story in which eighty-three-year-old Sergio infiltrates a Chilean nursing home. His mission, should he choose to accept it, is to assess the quality of care or neglect, an investigation prompted by a concerned daughter of her resident mother.

An elderly Chilean man, Sergio, spots a want ad in a newspaper that requires applicants to be a male retiree between the ages of 80 and 90 as a 007-like theme plays in the background. They need to be “independent, discrete and competent with technology.” Hence, that is the way Maite Alberdi’s hybrid doc/secret-agent thriller The Mole Agent kicks off.

Director Maite Alberdi’s creative, captivating new film The Mole Agent feels like a rather slow narrative feature, in which not enough happens, until you remember it’s a documentary. Alberdi’s hybridization of staid drama and cinema vérité makes for poignant, intense viewing. The film will stay with you longterm, both as a bit of melancholia and as a cautionary tale to show compassion and attention to our aging loved ones.