Some of the greatest movies tell stories that are so personal they become universal. The Brazilian film I'm Still Here achieves exactly this, explaining its resonance with audiences and critics worldwide, as evidenced by its three Academy Award nominations: Best Picture, Best International Feature Film, and Best Leading Actress for Fernanda Torres.
The film focuses on the story of Eunice Paiva, a woman whose life was irrevocably altered by Brazil's military dictatorship on a warm day in January 1971, when her husband, former congressman Rubens Paiva, was forcibly taken from their home, never to be seen again. The military's cruelty under General Emílio Médici's brutal regime didn't end there — after keeping the family under house arrest, they detained and tortured both Eunice and her 15-year-old daughter, Eliana.
Yet, this is not a movie about a savage dictatorship or a tale of victimhood, but a testament to a woman’s strength and resilience. Despite facing a system designed to intimidate and silence her, Eunice Paiva, from the beginning, sought answers about what happened to her husband and worked to get the government to acknowledge its responsibility. She also raised her five children alone, while navigating the obstacles of life as a woman at the time, when she couldn’t even access the family’s savings without her “disappeared” husband's signature. Later, she would pursue a law degree and become a prominent activist for the native people in Brazil.
Having frequented the Paivas' vibrant household before Rubens' disappearance, director Walter Salles captures both the warmth of what was lost and the steely resilience of what emerged. And he presents all of this in an unsentimental and yet deeply moving way. Actress Fernanda Torres is another reason why the movie has received so much attention. Never resorting to tears — Eunice didn’t have time for crying or self-pity, Torres says — her performance conveys depths of emotion through determination and strength.
I"m Still Here is based on a book by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Eunice's son, who was only 11 years old when Rubens Paiva was taken from his home. Marcelo says that he wrote the book after he finally realized that the true hero in the family was not his father but Eunice, the survivor who refused to be broken. At the end, the movie goes beyond a greatly deserved homage to Eunice Paiva or even an opportunity to tell the story of the Brazilian military dictatorship to young audiences. I'm Still Here is also a reminder that the collapse of democracy isn't just a political event. It’s an intimate catastrophe that unfolds in living rooms, at dinner tables, and in the everyday lives of ordinary citizens — a message that is unfortunately as relevant for our times as it was in the second half of the 20th century.
The film has already made history in Brazil, with an unprecedented Best Picture nomination by the Academy. Moreover, Fernanda Torres is the first Brazilian actress to be nominated for the Oscars since her mother (Fernanda Montenegro, who plays an older Eunice Paiva at the end of the movie) was nominated in the same category in 1999 for Central Station, a film also directed by Walter Salles. I'm Still Here has also become part of Oscar history. This is only the second time that a mother-and-daughter duo has been nominated for the Best Leading Actress award, repeating the feat of Judy Garland (1955) and Liza Minnelli (1970 and 1973).
-- Lalu Farias
Lalu Farias is a "recovering" journalist from Brazil and a corporate governance specialist with a master's degree in International Relations. She is passionate about movies and TV shows and has a special talent for buying more books than she will ever have time to read.