Review: 'I'm Still Here' brings government corruption home on the silver screen

“I’m Still Here,” the new Brazilian historical drama covering the nation’s descent into tyranny under military dictatorship, is a stunning display of artistic excellence. I am perhaps the least of all to say it, but it is the kind of film that you walk away from in wonderment at what appears to be cinematically flawless.

To be clear, I did leave the film wanting a bit more on a few fronts, but don’t let that distract you from the facts.

The reality is that Fernanda Torres, who recently picked up an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress, is just as advertised. Also nominated for Best Picture, the Walter Salles-directed film follows stay-at-home mom Eunice, who, several scenes into the film, must slowly come to terms with life as a single mother. It is 1971 and her husband, former Brazilian congressman Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), has been disappeared by the regime.

The story is dramatic enough, and it is not the kind of performance where one scene sticks out to make you think, “Oh yes, she’s looking for an Oscar nod.” There is no screaming, no craze, no burst of emotion of any kind, really, to artificially display what the superbly written and directed story is already shouting. Amazingly, despite the loss of her husband, the violation of her children, and the struggle against a stony government, Torres’ character scarcely sheds a tear.

Her children, ranging from college-age to elementary school, are peripheral to the story for the most part, yet give life to the narrative as the human elements representing total innocence in the face of government corruption and violence. One scene, in which an armed military goon sent to the Paiva home plays foosball with Eunice’s son Marcelo (Guilherme Silveira), stands out in particular.

(As an adult, the real-life Marcelo authored “Ainda Estou Aqui,” the memoir upon which the “I’m Still Here” film is based.)

The film's pacing is remarkable, giving breathing room to scenes of family life, surreptitious activism, police torture, and the machinations of freedom fighters who are, in reality, in a race against time. Reassurances to Torres’ character are few, and the internal battle of a woman coming to terms with the unthinkable is on full display from a truly masterful Torres.

One would have hoped that Torres’ devout Catholic faith was showcased as well, perhaps giving color to how she retained hope in the face of abject darkness. Alas, religion is a complete afterthought in the film. You would never know any of the characters even believe God exists, save for the nuns who appear for a few seconds in the middle of the film.

Also absent in any meaningful capacity are Black Brazilians, who historically were targeted by the regime but appear in the film sparingly—in the form of young friends of Marcelo and, perhaps, the family maid Zezé (Pri Helena). (The irony there speaks for itself.)

The last quarter of the film does well enough to tie up loose ends, explaining how Eunice comes to finally obtain the truth about her husband’s demise—though like many during her era in Brazil, she never receives all the details.

Somehow, though, her family survives intact as a unit, and this seems to be at least a secondary message of the film: that hopelessness does not mean all hope is lost. Thus, insofar as a movie about torture and forced disappearance can be a feel-good story, “I’m Still Here” pulls off the impossible.

Nate Tinner-Williams is co-founder and editor of Black Catholic Messenger.

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