Based on a true story of a family torn apart by an oppressive government, I’m Still Here is a completely captivating drama featuring an outstanding performance by Fernanda Torres.
In 1970s Brazil, a happy, well-to-do family goes about life surrounded by evidence of a military dictatorship. It is a time of political upheaval, and Eunice (Torres) and Rubens are loving parents. When Rubens becomes involved with a rebel element, he is targeted by the government and taken one day to an unknown location. Desperate to find her husband, Eunice finds herself taken for questioning. She and her family are forced to carry on without their dad. As weeks and months pass, hope turns to despair as the family must contend with some unsettling information. Through it all, Eunice must hold her family together.
Directed with compassion and intensity by Walter Salles (City of God), the film, which has a direct similarity to the great Missing, is seen through the eyes of the mother, and it is through her perseverance under heartbreaking circumstances that serves as the film’s backbone, as she protects her children from harsh truths. Indeed, Torres is amazing, and the film rests on her shoulders, elevating a good story to a great one. The family is realistically portrayed in its attempts at normalcy amid events beyond their control, and even as the government acts as a separate character with its secretive, threatening actions, above all, the family sticks together. Their pain is our pain.
With
a postscript that completes the circle of events with a sense of irony and
sadness, this is a story that pulls no punches with its straightforward
narrative. Building bittersweet emotions slowly and honestly, it’s one of the year’s
best films.
*****
of ***** stars
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