The Secret Agent: Recife, 1977

The Secret Agent opens in Recife during the 1977 carnival holiday, when Armando arrives, a former researcher caught in the political turmoil of the military dictatorship. The carnival scenes were reenacted near Rua da Aurora, the street where Recife's main carnival parade takes place. The street runs along the Capibaribe from the Ponte da Boa Vista to the Ponte de Limoeiro.

Visitor guidance: A public street in central Recife; walk it from the Ponte da Boa Vista.

Carnival week starts with a bizarre case: police chief Euclides and his sons are called in to investigate a severed human leg found inside a captured shark. The shark scenes, and the flashbacks to Armando's teaching past, were shot on the campus of the Federal University of Pernambuco. Its urban campus in Cidade Universitária, in west Recife, covers 149 hectares and holds most of the university's academic centres.

Visitor guidance: The campus is on the west side of Recife.

Armando meets Elza, leader of the northeastern resistance, at the Cinema São Luiz, where his father-in-law works as a projectionist. Some scenes play out during a screening of The Omen. The cinema opened on 6 September 1952 at the crossing of Avenida Conde da Boa Vista, Rua da Aurora and Ponte Duarte Coelho, on the riverbank. Its Art Deco interior includes two stained-glass windows beside the screen.

Visitor guidance: A working street cinema; check the programme for screenings.

The shark's severed leg is thrown into the Capibaribe, and in the story that follows it revives and attacks men in a park at night. The "Hairy Leg" legend draws on real late-1970s newspaper reports, notably in Diário de Pernambuco, that caused a public frenzy in Recife. The river scenes were shot on location, with its usual capybara inhabitants. Capibaribe comes from Tupi and means Capybara River.

Location precision: The film shoots along the river without naming one spot; the pin marks the Capibaribe at the Ponte Duarte Coelho in central Recife.

The leg's attacks on men cruising in a public park at night were filmed in Parque 13 de Maio. The park opened on 30 August 1939 and is the first historic urban park in Recife; its name recalls the abolition of slavery in Brazil on 13 May 1888. In the story, the panic helps cover up news about police violence, corruption and homophobia disguised by the press.

Visitor guidance: A public park in Santo Amaro.