I saw I’m Still Here in the best possible situation, in a packed theater filled with people who really wanted to see this movie. I personally live in Smalltown, U.S.A., and when it comes to Oscar season, it can sometimes be difficult to find some of the nominated movies, especially when they are international films in a foreign language. Fortunately, there is an independent theater in town that shows older films, arthouse films, and other things that the first-run theaters usually pass on here because of limited screens. I’m Still Here finally came to this theater, a week too late for the Oscars ceremony, but welcomed nevertheless. I was amazed when I arrived that there was such a long line for this film, but to be honest, I shouldn’t have been. This was a one-night-only event for an elusive Best Picture-nominated Oscar film, and the town showed up for it.
My experience in that theater properly reflects my feelings for the movie itself. When the end credits began to roll, there was applause in the audience, something I had only experienced once before. There were tears in people’s eyes, and we all filed out of that theater in a sort of somber silence, each of us moved in a way few films can. There was none of the chatter that usually accompanies a popcorn film - people excitedly discussing their favorite scenes or rambling bits of small talk - just silence. This felt important, and as I walked to my car and drove home, I spent that time in quiet contemplation of what I had just seen. I knew this film was going to be good; it had won Best International Picture and was up for Best Picture this year, so it kind of had to be. I wasn’t prepared for how good it actually was.
The film takes place primarily in 1970/71, just a few short years after the 1964 Brazilian coup d’état. Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) was a congressman when the coup happened and has just recently come back out of exile with his family and is living in Rio de Janeiro. He has returned to his civil career and bought some land to build a home on. He also continues to support political expatriates but keeps that part of his life secret from his wife and children.
Following the kidnapping of the Swiss ambassador to Brazil by revolutionary movements, the country faces the looming possibility of political instability. Friends of the family decide to seek refuge in London, taking Vera (Valentina Herszage), the Paiva’s eldest daughter, with them. Shortly afterwards, a military raid takes place at their home and Rubens is taken for questioning, leaving behind his wife, Eunice (Fernanda Torres), their housekeeper, and the three younger children behind. They are assured Rubens will be back shortly, but the following day, Eunice and the next oldest daughter, Eliana (Luiza Kosovski), are also taken in. While Eliana is released the following day, Eunice spends far longer imprisoned, denied even a change of clothes or a simple shower. Instead, she is forced to look at pictures of suspected terrorists and point to any she may recognize. Once she is eventually released, she tries to figure out what happened to her husband, but the authorities deny he was even arrested, and the only eyewitness to him being imprisoned doesn’t want to jeopardize her own freedom to speak up.
This is a harrowing true story based off the memoir written by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the son of Rubens and Eunice. When the film first screened in November of 2024, there was an attempt to boycott the film in Brazil by the Bolsonarisms, a Brazilian far-right group that denies the military regime was a dictatorship. The boycott ultimately failed, and the film was a financial success, becoming the highest-grossing Brazilian film since the COVID-19 pandemic. It also became Brazil’s selection for the Academy Awards’ International Oscar, winning over the other heavy hitter, Emilia Pérez. It was also nominated for the Best Picture Oscar alongside Emilia Pérez, marking the first time two foreign films, both nominated for Best International Oscars, also competed for Best Picture.
This film opens with an ideal view of Brazil. We see beaches, the beautiful blues of the ocean, children playing, and people generally enjoying life; all the things you might expect to see in an advertisement to vacation in this seemingly ideal paradise. There’s some news on the radio and television about the Swiss ambassador being kidnapped and held for ransom, but that is played like background noise, a distraction from this ideal existence. We get our first glimpse of the darker side of things as Vera Paiva is riding in a car with her friends, filming with a Super-8 camera the people around them. They arrive at a tunnel where a military roadblock has been set up, and things take a turn for the dark. Everyone in the car is forced to exit and subjected to frisking and must show their identities, which are checked against a list of known assassins. Vera is late getting home, shaken by the experience.
When Rubens is taken from the family, a contingent of men stay behind to keep an eye on Eunice and the kids, making sure they do not try to get in touch with other expatriates. Eunice tries to be accommodating, but all the while she is terrified of what might happen to her husband while also trying to shield her children from the realities of their situation. We get little of the politics of the coup or what was going on in the country beyond what happens around this family. We do learn that hundreds of people, Rubens included, were taken into custody and simply disappeared. The term forced disappearance is used, and the very concept is bone-chilling.
At some point, Eunice gets confirmation that her husband has indeed been killed but cannot get official proof of it. This leaves her in a position where she cannot even access her husband’s money to pay basic bills or the housekeeper. Eventually, she makes the choice to sell the land they were going to build on for a loss and relocate the family to São Paulo. It takes them twenty-five years to get the documented proof of Rubens’s death, but they never learn where he was buried. Five people were identified as being responsible for his murder, yet none were ever prosecuted for the crime.
Not enough can be said about Fernanda Torres’s performance here. Her scenes in her jail cell are depressing and scary. She refrains from overselling her fear for her husband and daughter while she is in captivity all the while making it clear her state of mind. When she finally is released, after weeks of being denied the ability to even clean herself up, she comes home in the middle of the night and runs a shower. This scene emphasizes her fragility, both physically and mentally, and, though the camera doesn’t shy away from her while she is washing away weeks of filth, there is nothing sexual about it. She looks and feels wasted away, and it only took a few weeks to get her there.
If I can fault this movie in any way, it is the extra ending that feels unnecessary to the overall story. We get a flash-forward 25 years to when Eunice gets closure on her husband’s death with an official death certificate. Then we see her going through a box of memories, and the film feels like it is wrapping up. But it flashes forward again for one final scene in 2016 with Eunice, now elderly and suffering from Alzheimer’s. The scene shows how her family has grown from this tragedy, but it isn’t strictly necessary narratively speaking.
I’m Still Here is a fantastic film that really needs to be seen. I found myself moved by this true story and spent many hours after seeing it just thinking about it and examining my emotions and thoughts. That is the sign of a great movie. It sets up the time and political climate well and then trusts us to fill in the blanks rather than spoon-feeding it to us. It trusts that, even if we know nothing about this conflict in Brazil, we will still understand the basics and be emotionally invested. It’s flawlessly done, and I will be looking forward to revisiting this one once it becomes available for home viewing. It’s been a long time since I was this emotionally engaged in a film.
Academy Award Nominations:
Best Picture: Maria Carlota Bruno and Rodrigo Teixeira
Best Actress: Fernanda Torres
Best International Feature: Brazil (won)
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Release Date: November 7, 2024
Running Time: 138 Minutes
Rated R
Starring: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, and Fernanda Montenegro
Directed By: Walter Salles
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