I’m Still Here [original title: Ainda Estou Aqui] (2024): Don’t Give Up

by Len Weiler

The new Brazilian film I’m Still Here is a tremendous hit in Brazil, where it opened three months ago. It is a beautifully made, deeply resonant movie that relates a sad, poignant and ultimately uplifting true story. The movie features memorable performances all around, and most particularly that of its star, Fernanda Torres, who just recently won the 2025 Golden Globe award for Best Female Actress in a drama and is increasingly being mentioned as a possible nominee for best actress at the upcoming 97th Academy Awards. The film itself, I’m Still Here, is Brazil’s entry in the Best Int’l Feature category for the upcoming 97th Academy Awards;  it has been shortlisted [top15 candidates out of 85 films submitted] and is considered likely to be one of the final five nominees to be announced on January 23rd. Not only is this a wonderful, engaging movie, it also happens to be a quite timely, relevant one - a cautionary tale for those concerned about the fate of democratic governments around the world and especially in Brazil itself. [1/23/2025 update: The final Academy Awards nominees have just been announced. Torres HAS been nominated for the best actress Oscar; and I’m Still Here has been nominated in two categories: for best movie of the year and for best international film.]

Background: As you may recall, in 1964, a coup d’état replaced Brazil’s elected civilian government with a military dictatorship [the “Junta”] that ruled the country for over two decades, bringing with it a period of harsh repression for anyone who opposed its rule or its policies. The Junta censored all media and arrested, tortured and frequently killed and “disappeared” perceived dissidents. It was not until 1985 that a civil government was restored. More recently however, despite having deposed their right-wing, Junta admiring, President Jair Bolsonaro a couple years ago - via a democratic election in October 2022 - many in Brazil still fear a resurgent anti-democracy movement there. With good reason: Bolsonaro has never conceded defeat and shortly after he lost the election, his supporters stormed the national government’s headquarters in Brasilia, seeking to  instigate a new military coup d’état to return him to power. They failed.  Just a few months ago, federal police arrested a group of supporters for plotting to kill his successor, then President-elect Lula, just a few days before his Lula's inauguration. Around the same time  Bolsonaro and thirty-six cronies were arrested for plotting the attempted 2022 coup, following a two-year investigation. 

The good news is that more than 3 million Brazilians (and counting) had seen I’m Still Here as of the end of 2024. And Brazilian social media is buzzing with appreciation for the movie and its depiction of what it was like during the Junta period; it is seen as a needed tonic against fuzzy memories and an ongoing disinformation campaign that suggests times weren’t so bad and actually were pretty good under the dictatorship. 

As I’ve noted, I’m Still Here is a true story - about a prominent family, who became victims of the Junta’s violent repression. It is based on a memoir, also titled Ainda Estou Aqui (I’m Still Here), published in 2015 by the popular and prolific Brazilian author Marcelo Paiva.  Marcello was one of five children of Rubens and Eunice Paiva. He was 11 at the time the movie’s story begins. His four sisters - Vera (“Veroca”), Eliana, Ana Lucia (“Nalu”), and Beatriz (“Babiu”) - ranged in age from 17 to 10. Marcelo decided to write about his family’s history when his mother was in her eighties and losing her memory. The story in the book and the film is told as an intimate portrayal of the Paiva family, largely from her point of view.  

I’m Still Here opens during the Christmas season in late 1970. The Paivas live in a lovely house situated on Ipanema beach in Rio di Janeiro. Rubens (Selton Mello), the father, is an engineer. He had been an activist in labor causes and an elected member of Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies before he was removed when the Junta came to power. Since then, Rubens has been prudently apolitical, although still socially connected with liberal friends. Eunice (Fernanda Torres)  is a cosmopolitan woman with a lifelong love of reading and literature, with several esteemed novelists and other writers in her social circle.  She is also a loving, devoted mother to her large family. After eighteen years of marriage, it’s obvious that Rubens and Eunice remain very much in love.  

The kids and some friends are having fun, playing volleyball on the beach. Eventually they return to the house, where, in addition to their parents, other family members are present, and dinner preparations are under way. There’s a lot of talking, both earnest and jolly. Much of the movie’s first act takes place at the Paivas' home, a welcoming place where friends liked to gather. As a teen, the director of I’m Still Here was friendly with the Paiva kids and spent a lot of enjoyable time there. He remembers it as “a house where the doors and windows were always open, where different age groups mingled – remarkable in a country under dictatorship. For the adolescent I was, this contrast was striking.”  One can feel his affection for the family and their place in the way the home is portrayed in the film.  It’s a vision that serves, too, as a striking contrast to the subsequent events in the family’s story.  

That director is Walter Salles, whose acclaimed prior work includes  Central Station (1998) - nominated for two Oscars, [Best International Film and Best Actress], winner of the top prize at the prestigious Berlin Int’l Film Festival  as well as numerous other accolades - and The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), nominated for scores of international  honors, winning awards for best picture or best international film at BAFTA, Cannes, San Sebastian, and other festivals.  I’m Still Here is Salles’s first new feature film in a dozen years and is, for me, at least as excellent as those two earlier works.  Currently, it’s shortlisted [top15 candidates out of 85 submitted films] for the Oscars’ "Best International Film" award – with the final five nominees (this movie is considered a top candidate) to be announced on January 23rd. 

The idyllic family life of the Paiva family is violently upended on January 20, 1971, when a platoon of six armed men suddenly arrive at their home and demand that Rubens come with them at once for a “deposition”.  There’s clearly no way to refuse, so he goes off with two of them, promising to be back as soon as possible.  The other four men stay at the home with Eunice and the five kids, effectively guarding them, although claiming this is standard procedure.  A couple days later, Eunice and Eliana are taken into custody, again without any prior notice. A frantic Eunice pleads with them not to take Eliana, but her pleas are unavailing. Mother and daughter are taken to the headquarters of the Junta’s secret police, and separated. Eunice is imprisoned and interrogated for twelve days. Questions about her daughter’s fate and the situation of the rest of her family are ignored. Instead, she is asked repeatedly to name left-wing “terrorists. Only upon her release does she learn that Eliana and her other children are okay. They receive no information about Rubens, however.  They will never see him again.

The rest of I’m Still Here is about the aftermath. How Eunice tries to hold things together, care for the family, retain some hope for Rubens return, and press the authorities for answers. It‘s the story of her remarkable perseverance and resilience. And of how she eventually reinvents herself, moving the family back to her hometown of Sao Paolo, continuing to care for the children as a single parent, enrolling in law school, and all the while leading the fight for release of information about Rubens and others like him, then, as a lawyer, advocating for the poor.  

It is an exceptional story about an extraordinary woman, a true heroine. It’s told without mawkish sentimentality or overdone melodrama, because the truth needs no exaggeration. It is heartrending and deeply affecting enough.  Surprisingly, what could have been a deeply depressing account winds up being an inspiring one – a story of perseverance as resistance … and triumph.  I’m Still Here works as cinema because of the talents of  Walter Salles and his team, and especially because of the thoroughly credible, deeply committed, brilliant performance of its lead performer, Fernanda Torres. I can’t say enough good things about her. Like how she portrays and evinces so many emotions, often several at once - romantic love, maternal love, longing, worry, anger, fear, determination, relief, joy, pride, pain, grief and more: wit, intelligence, restraint, compassion.  She makes this very demanding role seems so effortless. 

There’s more – for which Torres doesn’t get the credit. But her mother does. That would be Fernanda Montenegro, who plays Eunice in her late eighties near the end of the picture, at a 2014 family reunion. The character has had Alzheimer’s for a decade at this point and does not participate much in the festivities – but there’s a part of Eunice still in evidence – the pride with which she holds herself and the way her eyes react when she recognizes a photograph of Rubens in a TV report.  Montenegro is a much-lauded actress in her own right, at one time referred to as “The First Lady of Brazilian Theater”.  Perhaps her most famous role was in Salles’s Central Station for which she received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress, along with numerous other awards.

Speaking of the awards circuit, things seem to be picking up for I’m Still Here. At the Venice Film Festival in August it won the coveted SIGNIS award (see below); then in October it won the Audience Award for Global Cinema at the Mill Valley FF; and just a week ago it picked up the award for Best Foreign Language Feature at the Palm Springs Int’l Film Festival.  I’ve mentioned that Torres just won the 2025 Best Actress award at the Golden Globes. We’ll know within a couple days whether she gets nominated in the same category at the Academy Awards, as she ought to be. [1/23/25 update: As noted above, Torres has been nominated for the best actress; and this movie has been nominated for best picture and for best international film of the year.]

I want to end by quoting from the citation accompanying the SIGNIS award in Venice, given for the movie’s “profound portrayal of resilience, heartbreak and civil commitment.”

Salles transforms a cry of denunciation into a song of hope. … Eunice’s resilience and her refusal to be silenced become a beacon not just for Brazil but for all nations grappling with the legacy of authoritarianism.

 [T]he film is a historical recounting and a powerful commentary on the present. With global democracy increasingly at risk, the film serves as a reminder of the fragility of freedom and the importance of standing up against oppression, even in the face of overwhelming odds.

Amen.

2 hours 16 minutes

Grade: A

Currently being rolled out to theaters in select cities. Currently showing in New York City, L.A., Chicago, and a few other cities. In Northern CA, I’m Still Here opens 1/24/25 at the AMC Kabuki in SF, and Smith Rafael Film Center in San Rafael; 1/31/25 at Rialto Elmwood in Berkeley and the Orinda Theater;  2/7/25 in Davis, Sacramento, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Sebastopol.   Check HERE  to find opening dates and theaters near you.