Review by Amanda Gilmore for Mr. Will Wong
The latest from Director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) focuses on the real-life story of Activist, Lawyer, and hero Eunice Paiva (an outstanding Fernanda Torres).
I’m Still Here brings us back into early ’70s Rio de Janeiro when Brazil’s military dictatorship sought to exert its authority through detentions and disappearances. Co-Screenwriters Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega meticulously adapt it from Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s Memoir. Having the source material come from the son of Eunice and Rubens Paiva allows us to enter this tumultuous historical moment in Brazil’s history through idyllic domestic life.
The Screenwriters and Director first introduce us to this warm family. One filled with love between parents, Eunice and Rubens (Selton Mello), and many children from a range of ages who freely tease, quarrel, and embrace each other. For example, the opening scene depicts Marcelo (Guilherme Silveira) bringing a stray dog home. Against Rubens’ preconceived notions about dogs, he allows his children to keep it. He even names it.
Yet, this beautiful look at domestic life is contrasted with the military regime happening outside their doors and on their TV. But then one day, it enters their home. Military interrogators take Rubens, a former congressman, away. A day goes by, the military is still inside the Paiva residence, but the patriarch doesn’t return. Then they take Eunice and one of their daughters. The daughter spends one day in prison while Eunice spends 12. But Rubens never returns. This sends Eunice on a journey to expose the government’s illegal activities, including its refusals to acknowledge the disappearance of thousands of innocent civilians.
Those who watch I’m Still Here won’t be surprised that it received three Academy Award nominations this year. Especially when it comes to Torres’ Best Actress nomination. She is an indelible force of nature as Eunice. She shows the progression of a doting wife and mother to an innocent prisoner to a courageous Activist and Lawyer.
I’m Still Here is a monumental film that speaks to both the past and present while being a warning to what could happen in the future.
Mongrel Media release I’M STILL HERE in cinemas Friday, January 31, 2025.
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