Walter Salles’s film I’m Still Here is the story of a family that is torn apart by the acts of an authoritarian military dictatorship. There have been a number of films that portray South American dictatorships and the way many people were disappeared—arrested and never seen again. This film adds to that collection, but with a very personal point of view. I’m Still Here is Brazil’s official submission for consideration for Best Foreign Feature Film.
The film begins in 1970 during which Brazil was under a dictatorship. When we first meet the Paiva family, however, that all seems unimportant. Rubens (Selton Mello) and Eunice (Fernanda Torres) Paiva live in a wonderful house near the beach in Rio de Janeiro with their five children. Their doors are open to everyone. They host dinner parties. Children play loudly and freely. Joy and life fill every corner of their home. Some of their friends are emigrating because of worries about the dictatorship, but the Paiva’s feel confident that their status (Rubens used to be a congressman) will protect them.
One day, all this crashes down when Rubens, Eunice and one of their daughters are arrested. The daughter, then Eunice are released after a few days. Rubens never returns.
Eunice’s release occurs at about the midpoint of the film. The focus then becomes how the family adapts to this situation, and how Eunice and the children eventually become advocates for uncovering information about the many people who were disappeared during that regime. In this part of the film, Eunice’s strength in holding the family together in such a difficult time becomes the driving force of the story.
The film will eventually show scenes from 1996, when the truth begins to come out, and 2014, by which time Eunice is suffering from Alzheimer’s. These scenes show where the nation, and, more importantly for the viewers, the family have come.
The film is based on a memoir by the same title by Marcelo Rubens Paiva. Salles knew the family and spent time in that house as a teen. He says that his time in that house helped him discover many things and see the world in new ways.
The film is not just about the family, it is also a reminder of the historical wound that period caused for Brazil. Fernanda Torres mentioned in the Q&A following the screening at AFIFest that the scene in which we see Eunice lost in her Alzheimer’s reflects the way the nation has begun to lose its memories of these times. She notes that one of the reasons Marcelo Paiva started writing his memoir was triggered by his mother’s declining memory at the same time that the nation was also forgetting.
On a broader scale, the film reminds us of the fragility of democracy. The 20th Century (and much of history) was filled with such examples of authoritarianism. We still see it many places today. We should never say that it cannot happen. Most people to whom it happened said the same thing.
I’m Still Here begins releasing in theaters in November.
Photos courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics.
