Originally posted Sept. 1, 2024
Given the many acclaimed films about the 1964 military coup in Brazil have poured out of Latin America (among them, Baptism of Blood about the Dominican friars who resisted the military dictatorship and Camilo Galli Tavares’ documentary The Day that Lasted 21 Years), Walter Salles’ new drama I’m Still Here (Ainda estou aqui), bowing in Venice competition, may initially seem like a late-comer in recounting the tragedy of a “missing man” (desaparecido) who is taken from his home by armed men and never seen again.
But passing time is at the heart of the story: the importance of preserving a historical memory of what really happened, who was arrested, who disappeared, who really died. And it is done exceedingly well in Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega’s screenplay by focusing on the figure of the disappeared man’s wife, portrayed with towering aplomb and iron determination by Fernanda Torres, the star of Salles’s 1995 drama Foreign Land.
This harrowing story really happened and is based on the memoir of Marcelo Rubens Paiva, who appears in the film as a young boy. Salles, who grew up in Rio at the same time, knew Marcelo and his four sisters and their happy, middle-class family living in a big house with a view of the beach.
But tension is in the air, foreshadowed with growing menace in the long first sequence that establishes how loving and united the Paiva family is. In the paradise of 1970s Rio de Janeiro, the military coup literally casts a shadow over normal life with its convoys of black-clad assault troops and dark symbols: in the opening shot, a helicopter flies sinisterly over Eunice Paiva, the mother of the family, as she floats peacefully in the water while her kids play on the beach.
Her jovial husband Rubens Pavia (a warm and lovable Selton Mello) is a former congressman for the left-wing Labor Party and sprinkles his current career as an engineer with small acts of resistance against the military, like covertly delivering letters about missing people’s whereabouts. Some of his friends are hurriedly moving to Europe, but the Paivas delay making a decision about leaving. They just send their eldest daughter Vera to London, a rebellious soul who has already had a run-in with the police.
Then one day, their carefree lives are torn apart when Rubens is pulled in for questioning by armed men who won’t identify themselves. In a crescendo of fright, the Paivas discover that they are prisoners in their own house. Keeping her cool, Eunice offers food to the occupiers and treats them like guests. To no avail. They won’t tell her where Rubens is, and the next day she and her young daughter Eliana are driven to a military prison with hoods over their heads and harshly questioned by interrogators, who demand they identify terrorists in a photo album.
Rubens’ picture is there.
Eunice is held for 12 long, grueling days. When she is released, the story takes a new turn as she learns to survive without access to her missing husband’s bank account. The air of danger is palpable, but Eunice digs in and fights back, struggling to prove Rubens was arrested by the military (which they deny).
The last half-hour contains a number of surprises that follow on each other, showing what an extraordinary woman Eunice Pavia was. Above all, it affirms the strength of the family to find closure, reorganize itself and survive, blossoming into future generations who know the truth about Rubens and will hopefully not repeat the mistake of a military coup. Though as Salles remarks in his director’s statement at Venice, where the film premiered in competition, during the seven years he was preparing the film, “life in Brazil veered dangerously close to the dystopia of the 1970s.” The film is a mirror and a warning.
Playing the elegantly dressed mother of five who turns social activist, getting her law degree at age 48, Torres makes a fascinating transformation that turns the story around and should earn her awards at festivals. In a coda, Eunice’s elderly self, when her life’s work is done and she is overcome with disease, is beautifully sketched by the great Brazilian actress Fernanda Montenegro, now 94, who starred in Salles’ first film Central Station (1998), for which she was nominated for an Academy Award as best actress.
Director: Walter Salles
Screenplay: Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega based on a memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva
Cast: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro
Producers: Maria Carlota Bruno, Rodrigo Teixeira, Martine de Clermont-Tonnerre
Cinematography: Adrian Teijido
Editing: Afflonso Goncalves
Production design: Carlos Conti
Costume design: Claudia Kopke
Music: Warren Ellis
Production companies: VideoFilmes, RT Features, MACT Productions
World Sales: Goodfellas
Venue: Venice Film Festival (Competition)
In Portuguese
135 minutes
