Films

I’m still here

Contributed

10 Mar 2025 — 1 min read

By Jack Weir

I’m Still Here is a poignant biographical drama following the true story of the disappearance of Rubens Paiva under the Brazilian military dictatorship in 1971, and his devastated family’s subsequent courageous perseverance against all odds. 

Walter Salles directs this true story with such tact, avoiding unnecessary stylistic interpretation and instead deriving dramatic tension from the bleak realities of the authoritarian dictatorship that brutalised Brazilian citizens for over two decades. 

Adopting a form of McCarthyism, the Brazilian dictatorship carried out mass arrests of those seen to oppose the regime, labelling them as “communists” and committing horrific crimes of torture and violence to repress ideas that could undermine the dictatorship. Glimpses of this brutality throughout I’m Still Here demonstrate the oppression of victimised citizens of Brazil during this turbulent Cold War period in an oblique and tasteful manner that is respectful to victims of the dictatorship. 

Fernanda Torres steals the show as Eunice Paiva who is thrust into a matriarchal role after the sudden disappearance of her beloved husband Rubens. Torres has rightly been nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress, as she performs the role of Eunice Paiva with skilful subtlety. Torres manifests Paiva’s resilience through adversity and her veiled sorrow, outwardly cheerful for the sake of her children, proving intensely moving and true to Paiva’s life story. 

The strength of Paiva in exposing her husband’s disappearance despite the personal risks involved is rousing but bittersweet, as this period of history is sadly reflected in contemporary dictatorships, and serves as a stark reminder of the existential dangers of authoritarianism.

Jack Weir is a graduate of Edinburgh Napier University’s Film BA (Hons) course.

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