Kleber Mendonça Filho’s “The Secret Agent” is now in theaters and garnering significant awards attention after its debut at the Cannes Film Festival in May, where it won best director and best actor, for star Wagner Moura, and as Brazil’s official international Oscar submission this year. Set in 1977 during the Brazilian military dictatorship, the film captures the unsettled political landscape of that time in Recife, with Moura starring as a university professor and political refugee who is attempting to flee the country with his son and evade harm from the authoritarian regime and corrupt businessmen.

In setting and topic, “The Secret Agent” calls to mind last year’s surprise Oscar superstar “I’m Still Here,” directed by Walter Salles, and selected by Brazil to represent the country at the Oscars, winning the best international feature prize and scoring a best actress nomination for star Fernanda Torres. That film, based on a true story, also captured the horrors of the military dictatorship, following the aftermath of a kidnapping of a local politician, and the grief his family experienced in the wake of his disappearance. It makes for a fascinating double feature. Stream “I’m Still Here” on Netflix.

Also vying for awards contention this fall is Bill Condon’s musical “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” based on Manuel Puig’s 1976 novel, set in an Argentine prison in 1975, in which two cellmates, a political prisoner and a queer person jailed for indecency, bond over a favorite film and the fantasy escape it allows them. Newcomer Tonatiuh stars with Diego Luna, while Jennifer Lopez takes on the musical numbers as the film star Ingrid Luna. The novel was adapted into a stage musical in 1983, a film set in Brazil in 1985, and now as this version some 40 years later. “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is available to rent on PVOD for $14.99 (the 1985 film is on HBO Max and the Criterion Channel).

Earlier this year, “The Penguin Lessons,” starring Steve Coogan and directed by Peter Cattaneo, set a quirky human interest story against the backdrop of the Argentinian military junta in the 1970s and ‘80s, at the same time that it was happening in Brazil. Coogan stars as an English teacher working at an elite boys’ school as the coup is happening, though his dour mood and nihilistic attitude prevent him from getting too involved. A weekend trip to Uruguay results in him returning with a contraband live penguin, and his new pet opens him up to the community of people around him, as he becomes concerned with the disappearances and welfare of his neighbors. It’s worth a watch, and the film is now available on Netflix.

Finally, Chilean director Pablo Larrain might be best known in the U.S. for his films about female stars like “Jackie,” “Spencer” and “Maria,” but much of his work in Chile had to do with the political fallout of dictator Augusto Pinochet. One of his recent films, “El Conde,” configured Pinochet as an aging vampire feasting on the hearts of his country (streaming on Netflix). But he also made an unofficial trilogy of films having to do with Chile during the time of Pinochet, “Tony Manero” (2008), “Post Mortem” (2010) and “No” (2012), starring Gael Garcia Bernal as an advertising executive working on the political campaign for Pinochet’s referendum in the 1980s. “Tony Manero” and “Post Mortem” are both on Kanopy, while “No” is available to rent on all digital platforms.

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